I 


warn 


II      li    ! 


II 


II 


flp  II 


LIBRARY 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 
RIVERSIDE 


tUto    krf'-'  < 


^  <-o  «v.  (t^vv^  f  1 » 


LJ 


t  &~   tf  Y 


LIBRARY 
UNIVERSITY  Or  C 


JOHN  SHAW  BILLINGS 

1908 -/ET.  70 


John  Shaw  Billings 


A   Memoir 


By 

Fielding   H.  Garrison,  M.D. 


Illustrated 


G.  P.  Putnam's  Sons 

New   York  and  London 
SFbe    l&nicfcetbocker    press 

1915 


COPYRIGHT,  1915 

BY 
JOHN    SEDGWICK   BILLINGS 


tfce  Unfcfeerbocfcer  Cwreee,  *Uw  Bodt 


PREFACE 

WHEN  Dr.  Billings  died  in  New  York,  on  March  1 i, 
1913,  he  was  principally  known  to  the  metropo- 
lis and  to  many  of  the  world  at  large  as  the 
Director  of  the  New  York  Public  Library  and  its  upbuilder 
during  the  first  seventeen  years  of  its  existence.  The 
newspaper  notices  of  his  death,  and  even  the  obituaries 
in  most  of  the  medical  journals,  mentioned  his  military 
rank,  his  official  connections  at  Washington  and  elsewhere, 
and  a  few  other  details,  but  little  was  said  of  the  things 
for  which  he  will  be  best  remembered.  He  has  been 
pronounced  by  a  competent  authority  to  be  the  most 
eminent  bibliographer  in  the  history  of  medicine;  he 
planned  and  organized  one  of  the  greatest  of  medical 
libraries  and  some  of  the  finest  hospitals  and  laboratories 
of  modern  times.  He  was  equally  eminent  as  sanitarian 
and  statistician,  or  as  war  surgeon  and  medical  historian, 
and  was,  all  in  all,  one  of  the  ablest  of  civil  administrators. 
This  account  of  his  life  and  labors  has  been  prepared  as 
a  memorial  at  the  instance  of  his  family  and  friends. 
While  the  records  of  his  early  life  are  meagre,  the  account 
given  in  his  letters  and  notebooks  of  his  experiences  as 
a  medical  officer  during  the  Civil  War  is,  in  some  sort, 
a  contribution  to  history.  For,  as  the  late  Dr.  Weir 
Mitchell  once  observed,  no  adequate  record  of  the  actual 
details  of  an  army  surgeon's  daily  life  during  that  period 
has  been  published  to  date.  Billings's  journal  gives  us 
a  vivid  impression  of  the  marches,  battles,  and  engage- 


IV 


Preface 


ments  of  Hooker's  and  Grant's  campaigns,  viewed,  as  it 
were,  from  the  staff  surgeon's  angle,  from  behind  the 
scenes.  After  the  close  of  the  war,  Dr.  Billings's  career 
was  one  of  most  extraordinary  activity  and  accomplish- 
ment. His  three  greatest  achievements,  the  Surgeon- 
General's  Library  and  its  Index  Catalogue,  the  Johns 
Hopkins  Hospital,  and  the  New  York  Public  Library, 
have  been  set  forth  in  three  separate  historical  chapters 
which  explain  themselves.  As  most  of  Billings's  essays 
and  monographs,  important  things  in  the  light  of  medical 
history,  are  buried  in  the  back  files  of  periodicals  and  in 
forgotten  text-books,  no  apology  is  offered  for  the  inclu- 
sion of  liberal  citations,  each  of  which  is,  in  a  record  of 
this  kind,  memories  positum. 

In  preparing  this  memoir,  the  writer  desires  to  express 
his  deep  obligations  and  grateful  acknowledgments  to  the 
Adjutant-General,  United  States  Army,  for  a  precise  and 
accurate  record  of  Dr.  Billings's  army  appointments  and 
assignments;  to  General  Alfred  A.  Woodhull,  United 
States  Army,  for  his  searching  critical  review  of  the  war 
chapter,  and  for  much  valuable  information  bearing  upon 
United  States  Army  regulations  and  other  military  mat- 
ters; to  Miss  Acland  (Oxford)  and  Admiral  Sir  William 
A.  Dyke  Acland,  R.  N.  (Torquay),  to  General  A.  A.  Wood- 
hull  (Princeton),  and  to  Dr.  A.  Jacobi  (New  York),  for  the 
generous  loan  of  private  letters;  to  Mr.  Edwin  H.Anderson, 
Director  of  the  New  York  Public  Library,  and  Mr.  H.  M. 
Lydenberg,  its  Reference  Librarian;  to  President  Charles 
W.  Eliot  (Boston),  President  Robert  S.  Woodward  of  the 
Carnegie  Institution  of  Washington,  Professor  William 
H.  Welch  (Baltimore),  Dr.  John  S.  Billings,  Jr.  (New 
York),  and  others  for  valuable  information. 

The  excellent  and  accurate  bibliography  of  Dr.  Billings's 
writings  is  the  work  of  Miss  Adelaide  R.  Hasse  of  the  New 
York  Public  Library. 


Preface  r 

The  critical  correction  of  the  copy  for  the  printers  and 
the  proof-reading  has  been  supervised  by  Dr.  Frank  J. 
Stockman  of  the  Surgeon- General's  Library,  Washington, 
D.C. 


F.  H.  G. 


WASHINGTON,  D.  C. 
If  arch  3,  1915. 


CONTENTS 


I. — EARLY  DAYS 


II. — EXPERIENCES  OF  A  MEDICAL  OFFICER  DURING 

THE  CIVIL  WAR          .         .         .         .         .19 

III. — OFFICIAL  LIFE  IN  WASHINGTON       .         .         .     136 

IV. — THE  JOHNS  HOPKINS  HOSPITAL  AND  MEDICAL 

SCHOOL      .......     181 

V. — THE  SURGEON-GENERAL'S  LIBRARY  AND  CATA- 
LOGUE      .         .         .         .         .         .         .     213 

VI. — PHILADELPHIA       .         .         .  .  .  .278 

VII. — THE  NEW  YORK  PUBLIC  LIBRARY  .  .  .     288 

VIII. — SCIENTIFIC  AND  LITERARY  WORK  .  .  .     336 

IX.    CHARACTER  AND  PERSONALITY  .  .  .     376 

APPENDICES 

I. — GENEALOGY  OF  THE  BILLINGS  FAMILY  BY  THE  LATE 

MRS.  J.  S.  BILLINGS  .....       397 

II. — MILITARY  RECORD       ......       408 

III. BIBLIOGRAPHY    OF    THE    WRITINGS     OF    DR.    JOHN 

S.    BILLINGS   BY   MISS   ADELAIDE   R.   HASSE  .       4! I 


vu 


ILLUSTRATIONS 

PAGE 

JOHN  SHAW  BILLINGS.     1908 — MT.  70    .        Frontispiece 
JOHN  SHAW  BILLINGS.     1863 — ^ET.  25  .         .20 

CLIFFBURNE  HOSPITAL,  WASHINGTON,  D.  C. — 1862  .  138 
THE  JOHNS  HOPKINS  HOSPITAL,  BALTIMORE,  MD.  .  182 
THE  ARMY  MEDICAL  LIBRARY,  WASHINGTON,  D.  C.  .  214 
JOHN  SHAW  BILLINGS.  1889 — ;ET.  51  .  .  .  280 
THE  NEW  YORK  PUBLIC  LIBRARY  ....  290 


IX 


John  Shaw  Billings 


CHAPTER  I 

EARLY  DAYS 

AMONG  the  colonists  who  settled  in  America  before 
the  Revolution  was  William  Billing,  of  Taunton, 
England,  who  sold  his  estate  of  Deanes  to  his 
brother,  Ebenezer  Billing  of  Glastonbury,  and  came  to 
New  England  about  the  middle  of  the  seventeenth 
century.  His  father,  William  Billing,  the  youngest  son  of 
Richard  Billing  of  Taunton,  was  descended  in  a  direct  line 
from  Sir  Thomas  Billing,  eldest  son  of  John  Billing  of 
Rowell.  Sir  Thomas  Billing,  a  serjeant-in-law  (1453),  was 
knighted,  in  1458,  for  his  services  to  the  Lancastrian 
party,  became  Justice  of  the  King's  Bench  in  1465,  Lord 
Chief  Justice  of  the  King's  Bench  in  1468,  and,  dying  in 
1481,  was  buried  in  Battlesden  Abbey,  where  the  inscrip- 
tion on  his  tomb  can  still  be  read. 

In  1654,  it  is  of  record  that  William  Billing  was  one  of 
the  original  proprietors  of  Lancaster,  Massachusetts,  but, 
after  his  marriage,  on  February  5,  1654,  he  joined  the 
company  of  William  Cheeseborough  at  Stonington, 
Connecticut,  where  he  became  one  of  the  largest  landed 
proprietors  in  that  and  neighbouring  towns.  He  died  on 
March  1 6,  1713.  Of  his  twelve  children,  Ebenezer,  the 


2  JoKn  SHaw  Billings 

second  son,  left  nine  children  who  thereafter  bore  the 
name  of  Billings.  Of  these,  James,  the  fourth  son  (born 
October  4,  1688)  was  the  father  of  Jesse  Billings  (born 
April  1 8, 1737),  a  soldier  in  the  War  of  the  Revolution,  who 
was  the  grandfather  of  James  Billings  (born  March  1 , 1806) 
of  Saratoga,  New  York.  On  July  21,  1835,  James  Billings 
married  Abby  Shaw,  of  Raynham,  Massachusetts,  who 
was  a  lineal  descendant  of  John  Rowland,  one  of  the 
Pilgrims.  In  course  of  time,  James  Billings  removed  from 
Saratoga  to  Indiana,  and,  in  the  later  years  of  his  life, 
lived  at  Dayton,  Ohio,  where  he  died  on  March  8,  1892. 
Of  his  five  children,  three  died  in  infancy.  The  survivors 
were  a  daughter,  Emma,  and  the  subject  of  this  narrative. 

John  Shaw  Billings  was  born  on  April  12,  1838,  in  Cot- 
ton Township,  Switzerland  County,  Indiana,  a  sparsely 
settled  section  in  the  south-eastern  angle  of  the  State. 
When  he  was  about  five  years  old,  his  father  removed  to  a 
farm  on  Narragansett  Bay,  Rhode  Island,  but  about  five 
years  later  he  returned  to  Indiana  and  engaged  in  mer- 
cantile business  in  Allensville,  in  the  neighbourhood  in 
which  he  had  previously  lived. 

Of  these  early  days,  we  have,  fortunately,  a  striking 
record  in  the  fragment  of  an  autobiography  which  Dr. 
Billings  himself  sketched  out  at  the  instance  of  his  friends 
a  few  years  before  his  death : 

I  first  got  a  realizing  sense  of  my  own  personality  or  individ- 
uality when,  a  boy  about  eight  years  old,  I  was  at  work  on  a 
hillside  on  the  farm  of  Tristram  Burgers,1  near  Providence, 
R.  I.  My  father  was  the  manager  of  this  farm,  and  my 
business  that  sunny  afternoon  was  to  chop  up  and  dig  out  by 
the  roots  all  the  Canada  thistles  I  could  find  in  the  pasture. 

I  had  read  the  Bible  through — verse  by  verse,  also  Robinson 

'Perhaps  this  refers  to  Tristam  Burges  [1770-1853],  of  Providence, 
Rhode  Island,  who  held  many  important  offices  in  the  State,  and  repre- 
sented it  in  Congress  in  1825-35. 


Early  Days  3 

Crusoe,  Deerslayer,  Pathfinder,  and  Pilgrim's  Progress — 
but  I  had  never  done  any  thinking  that  I  can  remember. 
But  on  this  memorable  afternoon,  I  stood  on  the  hillside 
and  looked  over  Narragansett  Bay,  and  wondered  where 
all  the  catboats  and  schooners  with  their  white  sails  came 
from,  and  were  going  to.  Then  my  thoughts  took  this  turn: 
"The  only  person  who  can  know  that  is  God.  He  knows 
everything  that  has  been,  and  is,  and  is  to  be.  Then,  hundreds 
and  thousands  of  years  ago,  He  knew  that  I  should  be  here  to- 
day, and  that  each  of  those  boats  would  be  just  where  it  is,  and 
that  I  should  be  thinking  of  them.  Then,  as  His  knowledge 
must  have  been  perfect,  it  is  absolutely  necessary  that  I,  just 
as  I  am,  knowing  just  what  I  know,  am  here  at  this  moment, 
looking  at  these  ships,  which  also  must  be  just  where  they  are. 
Then  everything  must  be  arranged  and  ordered  to  be  just  as  it 
is,  and  no  one  can  prevent  it.  Therefore,  I  am  not  responsible 
for  where  I  am  nor  for  what  I  do. "  I  was  surprised  at  this 
conclusion,  and  thought  I  had  made  a  great  discovery,  and 
resolved  to  tell  my  mother  about  it  when  she  was  worrying 
about  our  troubles.  I  did  tell  her  about  it  that  night,  and  said 
that  there  was  no  use  in  worrying  any  more.  She  looked  at  me 
in  a  scornful  sort  of  way,  and  said,  "Who's  been  teaching  you 
about  foreordination. "  "Nobody  taught  me,"  said  I.  "I 
found  it  out  by  myself— don't  you  see  it  must  be  so?  " 

My  life  on  the  Burgers'  farm,  from  about  five  to  ten  years  of 
age,  was  that  of  an  ordinary  farmer's  boy.  I  dropped  four  or 
five  grains  of  sweet  corn  in  the  proper  place  in  the  furrow  in 
planting  time,  I  helped  weed  the  little  carrots  and  young  beets, 
rode  the  horse  for  horse-raking  the  hay  crop,  went  to  a  country 
school  for  three  months  in  the  winter,  made  little  clam-bakes 
along  the  shore  with  my  cousins  William  Henry  and  Charles 
Shaw,  and  read  everything  I  could  lay  hands  on.  I  managed 
to  get  a  dollar  for  subscription  to  a  little  lending  library  in  a 
book  shop,  and  the  first  books  I  took  out  were  Deerslayer, 
Pathfinder,  and  Jock  o1  the  Mill.  I  had  for  my  own,  Robinson 
Crusoe,  Marco  Paul  in  the  Forests  of  Maine,  Harry  and  Lucy, 
and  Plutarch's  Lives,  and  was  quite  sure  that  I  did  not  want 
to  be  a  farmer. 


4  JoHn  SHaw   Billing's 

When  I  was  about  ten  years  old,  my  father  moved  to  Indiana 
and  established  himself  in  a  little  crossroads  village  called 
Allensville,  on  the  road  from  Rising  Sun  to  Vevay.  Here  he 
kept  a  country  store — was  postmaster,  and  had  a  small  shoe- 
maker's shop  in  which  one  man  was  employed.  I  learned 
something  of  shoemaking — had  some  experiences  in  keeping 
store.  I  read  incessantly.  Came  across  a  book — I  have  for- 
gotten its  title — which  had  a  number  of  Latin  quotations  in  it, 
asked  a  young  clergyman  (John  C.  Bonham)  how  I  could  learn 
Latin — and  got  a  Latin  grammar  and  reader — a  copy  of 
Ccesar,  and  a  Latin  dictionary,  and  set  to  work.  It  was  difficult, 
but  with  the  aid  of  Mr.  Bonham  I  made  good  progress.  Then 
I  made  an  agreement  with  my  father  that  if  he  would  help  me 
through  college  in  the  least  expensive  way,  all  of  his  property 
should  go  to  my  sister,  and  that  I  must  expect  nothing  more. 
I  then  got  some  Greek  books,  a  geometry,  etc.,  and  went  on  to 
fit  myself  to  pass  the  entrance  examination  for  the  sub-fresh- 
man class  at  Miami  University,  Oxford,  Ohio.  I  succeeded  in 
doing  this  in  a  year — and  passed  the  examination  in  the  fall  of 
1852.  For  the  first  two  years  I  kept  bachelor's  hall,  living  on 
bread,  milk,  potatoes,  eggs,  ham,  etc.,  such  things  as  I  could 
cook  for  myself.  The  lessons  gave  me  little  trouble.  Most  of 
my  time  was  spent  in  reading  the  books  in  the  College  Library. 
I  was  omnivorous,  read  everything  in  English  as  it  came,  phi- 
losophy, theology,  natural  science,  history,  travels,  and  fiction. 

Of  his  early  days,  apart  from  this  slight  sketch,  Dr. 
Billings  has  left  only  a  line,  a  passing  reference  to  "  the 
time  when  we  were  boys,  scattered  through  the  valley 
of  the  two  Miamis,  through  Indiana  clearings  and  old 
Kentucky  homes,  and  when  a  day  hunt  for  squirrels  and 
Bob  White  or  a  night  expedition  after  coons  was  among  the 
most  important  business  of  life."1  Before  the  age  of 
fifteen,  as  he  has  indicated,  he  bought  a  Latin  dictionary 
and  grammar  with  his  small  savings,  in  order  to  make  out 
the  meaning  of  classical  quotations  encountered  in  his 

1  Cincinnati  Lancet-Clinic,  1888,  n.  s.,  xx.,  304. 


Early   Days  5 

reading.  His  teacher  was  Rev.  John  C.  Bonham  who,  in  a 
letter  to  The  Recorder  (newspaper)  of  Rising  Sun,  Indiana 
(July  19,  1895),  says: 

In  the  early  fifties,  in  Aliens ville,  I  was  hearing  him  recite 
lessons  in  Latin  and  Greek,  so  big  that  no  average  pupil  could 
have  learned  them!  He  had  a  marvellous  memory.  I  never 
met  his  equal.  None  of  my  teachers  ever  thought  of  giving  us 
half  as  long  lessons  in  Cassar's  Commentaries  and  Xenophon's 
Anabasis  as  I  gave  him,  and  even  then  were  denied  the  privi- 
lege of  having  them  so  accurately  translated  or  so  well  under- 
stood. He  was  a  bright  pupil,  and  I  have  been  pleased,  but  not 
surprised,  by  his  success. 

When  he  took  his  degree  of  Bachelor  of  Arts  at  Miami 
University  in  1857,  he  graduated  with  the  second  honour 
in  his  class,  which  consisted  in  the  delivery  of  the  Latin 
Salutatory.  Three  successive  drafts  of  this  exist,  care- 
fully written  out  in  his  schoolboy  hand  on  parchment-like 
paper,  with  the  faint  pencilled  corrections  of  his  preceptor, 
the  final  version  being,  on  the  whole,  a  creditable  enough 
specimen  of  these  antiquated  and  perfunctory  perform- 
ances, in  which  the  usual  Ciceronian  flourishes  sometimes 
alternated  with  touches  of  macaronic  humour : 

Omnes  parati  sumus  vestros  cordes  movere  et  vestras  mentes 
convincere  cum  gratissima  eloquentia  et  solum  vestrum  opus  est 
quiescere  et  audire.  Verisimile  est  ut  discatis  qua  neque  vos  nee 
ulli  antehac  sciverunt.  Demum  qui  esset  Junius  invenietis  et 
accuratam  descriptionem  viri  qui  Guilielmum  Patersonem  plan- 
xerit  habebitis  et  secedetis  perfecti  convicti  ut  solum  una  Oxonia 
est  et  illius  lumines  seniores  sunt.  Torrens  ingenii,  qualem 
mundus  nondum  vidit,  effusurus  est  sed  si  non  affecti  manetis  et 
videmini  quasi  illud  jamdudum  sciebatis  vestri  comites  putabant 
ut  sit,  quod  congruat  tamquam  si  esset. 

During  the  summer  months,  young  John  Billings  eked 
out  his  slender  means  by  tutoring.  In  term  time,  he  and 


6  JoKn  SHaw  Billings 

other  college  boys  kept  bachelor's  hall  in  the  "old  south- 
east dormitory  in  the  college  campus,"  very  much,  no 
doubt,  as  he  himself  described  their  life  long  after  in  his 
sketch  "How  Tom  Kept  Bachelor's  Hall."1 

There  were  no  servants,  waiters  or  scouts  about  the  "old 
south-east";  you  had  to  carry  your  own  wood  and  water  in, 
and  your  own  ashes  and  rubbish  out.  Bread  and  milk 
were  delivered  once  a  day  by  the  baker  and  milkman,  but  all 
other  articles  of  food  must  be  brought  from  the  village,  a  few 
hundred  yards  away. 

Tom  was  what  is  called  a  natural  born  cook;  and  he  was 
also  a  very  bad  violin  player.  Of  course,  therefore,  he  was 
much  prouder  of  his  ability  to  give  a  halting  and  mangled 
rendering  of  the  Arkansas  Traveller  or  Money  Musk  with  his 
fiddle  than  of  his  uniform  success  in  producing  delicious 
buckwheat  cakes. 

One  of  Tom's  special  dishes  was  papered  eggs.  As  it  was 
much  easier  to  learn  to  cook  these  than  it  was  to  make  buck- 
wheat batter  come  out  right  in  the  morning,  a  good  many  of 
the  boys,  including  some  who  lived  in  boarding-houses, 
mastered  the  technicalities  of  their  preparation.  Thus  papered 
eggs  became  a  common  dish  in  the  "south-east" — especially 
about  eleven  o'clock  on  winters'  nights. 

Now  the  art  and  mystery  of  papered  eggs  is  as  follows: 
Take  a  half-sheet  of  stout  letter  paper,  fold  up  the  edges  all 
round  and  fasten  them  at  the  corners  with  pins,  so  as  to  form  a 
shallow  pan  about  an  inch  deep. 

Break  half-a-dozen  eggs  into  a  dish,  put  the  paper  pan  on 
the  top  of  a  hot  stove,  and  tip  the  eggs  into  it  before  it  begins 
to  scorch. 

Add  pepper  and  salt,  and  with  a  spoon  scrape  up  the  egg  from 
the  bottom  of  the  paper  pan  as  fast  as  it  begins  to  harden,  so  that 
the  liquid  part  may  run  in  and  keep  the  bottom  moist,  in  order 
to  prevent  the  paper  from  burning.  When  the  whole  is  suffi- 
ciently cooked  take  it  off  the  stove  and  eat  it  hot  from  the  pan. 

1  Youth's  Companion,  Phila.,  November  10,  1892,  pp.  598-599. 


Early  Days  7 

You  see  that  in  this  way  one  is  always  sure  of  having  a 
clean  pan  and  a  clean  dish,  which  are  things  that  a  boy  house- 
keeper does  not  always  provide  for  himself.  It  is  not  the 
cooking  itself,  nor  the  serving  the  meal,  that  worries  a  boy,  so 
much  as  it  is  the  cleaning  up  and  putting  away  of  things  just 
at  the  precise  time  when  he  wants  to  do  something  else. 

The  same  is  true  with  regard  to  making  the  bed.  I  have 
never  known  a  time  when  it  was  convenient  for  a  boy  to  make 
his  own  bed,  and  of  course  it  had  to  be  left  occasionally,  say 
about  five  mornings  a  week,  with  merely  pulling  up  the  spread 
so  as  to  cover  the  disorder  beneath. 

Every  night  when  we  got  into  a  bed  that  had  been  left 
in  that  way  we  admitted  that  it  was  better  to  make  it  up 
every  morning ;  but  when  the  morning  came,  and  there  was 
just  time  to  get  into  one's  clothes  and  get  to  chapel  by 
the  time  the  bell  had  stopped,  it  was  no  use  to  think  about 
bed-making. 

Tom  had  one  special  advantage  over  the  rest  of  the  boys  in 
his  housekeeping,  and  that  was  that  he  could  sweep  his  floor 
into  his  fireplace  and  burn  his  rubbish,  instead  of  being  com- 
pelled to  sweep  it  under  the  bed  for  six  days  in  the  week,  and 
painfully  gather  up  the  collection  and  throw  it  out  of  the 
window  on  the  seventh,  as  was  the  general  custom  among  the 
"  south-easters. "  As  for  dusting,  that  was  only  done  when 
circumstances  rendered  it  absolutely  necessary. 

The  possession  of  a  fireplace  also  made  it  possible  to  broil  a 
steak  or  a  chicken,  and  Tom  was  the  only  boy  who  possessed  a 
gridiron.  Like  the  rest  of  us,  however,  he  preferred  the  frying- 
pan  for  regular  use,  partly,  as  he  said,  because  it  did  not  scorch 
his  face,  and  partly  on  account  of  the  possibilities  which  it 
afforded  for  mixtures  of  hot  fat,  flour  and  water,  which  were 
dignified  by  the  name  of  gravy. 

Many  labour-saving  contrivances  were  employed  in  Tom's 
culinary  department  which  have  not  yet  been  described  in 
cookery  books;  as,  for  instance  the  boiling  of  the  break- 
fast eggs  in  the  hot  coffee.  In  fact  the  whole  business 
was  a  persistent  effort  to  work  along  the  lines  of  least 
resistance. 


8  JoHn  SHaw  Billings 

Upon  his  graduation  from  Miami  University,  Billings 
got  a  number  of  testimonials  from  J.  W.  Hall,  the  presi- 
dent of  the  institution,  Charles  Elliott,  professor  of  Greek, 
R.  W.  MacFarland,  professor  of  mathematics,  and  others, 
in  aid  of  obtaining  employment  as  a  tutor,  to  carry  out  his 
plan  of  studying  medicine.  All  these  documents  concur 
in  praise  of  his  capacity  and  scholarship.  The  Greek 
professor  describes  him  as  "a  young  man  of  very  superior 
talents  and  extensive  acquirements,"  and  adds,  "I  have 
observed,  moreover,  that  he  possesses  great  facility  in 
communicating  what  he  knows."  This  trait,  which  was 
to  be  one  of  his  strongest  assets  in  after-life,  was,  by  a 
strange  chance,  to  find  its  earliest  account  in  a  novel  and 
more  remunerative  field  than  tutoring.  An  exhibitor  of 
lantern-slide  pictures,  a  sort  of  forerunner  of  the  Stod- 
dards  and  Elmendorfs  of  our  day,  found  himself  at  a  loss 
for  the  proper  running  commentary  of  explanatory  dis- 
course. Billings  offered  to  supply  the  deficiency  for  a 
consideration  and  occupied  himself  by  lecturing  in  this 
way  through  the  summer  following  his  graduation.  In 
the  autumn  of  1858,  he  matriculated  at  the  Medical  Col- 
lege of  Ohio.  This  institution  was  the  tenth  medical 
college  founded  in  this  country  and,  following  the  medical 
school  of  Transylvania  University  (Lexington,  Kentucky), 
the  second  to  be  established  west  of  the  Alleghanies  (1819). 
Its  founder  was  the  celebrated  Daniel  Drake,  "a  man," 
as  Billings  has  said,  "whose  fame,  as  compared  with  that 
of  his  contemporaries,  will  probably  be  greater  a  century 
hence  than  it  is  to-day,  and  whose  name,  even  now,  should 
be  among  the  first  on  the  list  of  the  illustrious  dead  of  the 
medical  profession  of  the  United  States."  After  the 
State  Legislature  had  passed  the  act  organizing  the  Medi- 
cal College  of  Ohio  (January  19,  1819),  Drake,  who  filled 
the  chairs  of  the  Institutes  and  Practice  of  Medicine, 
Obstetrics,  Diseases  of  Women  and  Children,  found  it 


Early   Days  9 

desirable  to  get  rid  of  a  certain  obnoxious  member  of  the 
faculty  and  induced  the  General  Assembly  of  the  State  to 
pass  an  amended  act  (December,  1819),  through  which  a 
professor  could  be  appointed  or  dismissed  by  the  con- 
currence of  two- thirds  of  the  faculty.  "Soon  after," 
Billings  goes  on  to  say, 

the  two-thirds  rule  was  applied  with  a  sort  of  boomerang  effect. 
The  faculty  of  three  had  a  meeting,  Dr.  Drake  being  in  the 
chair.  Dr.  Smith  moved  that  Daniel  Drake,  M.D.,  be  dis- 
missed from  the  Medical  College  of  Ohio.  Dr.  Slack  seconded 
it ;  Drake  put  the  motion,  which  was  carried,  and  then  return- 
ing thanks,  was  lighted  downstairs  by  Dr.  Smith,  who  used 
the  single  tallow  dip  candle  which  had  served  to  illuminate  this 
remarkable  faculty  meeting.  .  .  .  Dr.  Drake  was  a  great 
organizer,  and  a  great  disorganize^  a  founder  and  a  founderer, 
and  his  trip  downstairs  by  the  light  of  the  tallow  dip  was  by  no 
means  the  end  of  his  relations  with  this  school.  He  fought  it 
bitterly,  organized  other  schools,  went  to  Lexington,  to  Phila- 
delphia, and  to  Louisville,  as  teacher,  editor,  etc.,  but  when  his 
restless,  laborious  life  ended,  in  1852,  he  was  again  a  pro- 
fessor of  this  school  which  he  had  founded,  and  which  was, 
after  all,  more  interesting  to  him  than  any  other.1 

When  Billings  came  to  the  school  in  the  autumn  of  1858, 
the  Miami  Medical  College  had  just  combined  with  it, 
and  the  leading  members  of  its  faculty  were  George  C. 
Blackman  (1819-71)  of  Connecticut,  professor  of  surgery, 
and  James  Graham  (1819-79)  of  Ohio,  professor  of  materia 
medica: 

The  first  was  my  preceptor,  the  second  a  warm  personal 
friend.  I  could  not  speak  of  them  impartially  if  I  would,  and 
I  would  not  if  I  could.  They  were  a  contrast  to  each  other  in 
most  respects,  physically  and  mentally. 

Blackman    was    stout,    of    dark    complexion — tropical — a 

1  Cincinnati  Lancet-Clinic,  1888,  n.  s.,  xx.,  298-299. 


lo  JoKn  SHaw  Billings 

creature  of  impulse,  thoroughly  familiar  with  surgical  litera- 
ture, and  with  a  quotation  always  ready,  a  bold  and  skilful 
operator,  but  one  who  hated  to  attend  his  cases  after  the 
operation;  a  genial,  dictatorial,  generous,  jealous,  unhappy 
genius,  who  was  best  and  greatest  in  the  amphitheatre  with  a 
difficult  case  before  him. 

Graham  was  slender,  graceful,  of  light  complexion,  a  shrewd 
and  rapid  reasoner,  a  marvellous  diagnostician,  a  most  elo- 
quent lecturer,  a  man  who  would  have  made  a  great  lawyer 
or  politician,  and  who  was  fascinating  to  those  whom  he 
honoured  with  his  friendship;  often  sarcastic  and  a  scoffer, 
yet  generously  ready  to  help,  a  man  who  did  not  write,  whose 
fame  is  altogether  local,  whose  best  work  was  in  clinical  teach- 
ing and  in  holding  the  family  together.1 

The  men  who  developed  the  medicine  of  the  almost 
frontier  civilization  of  the  then  Middle  West  were  trained 
in  a  rugged  school  of  hardship  and  continual  struggle  with 
obstacles  which  few  could  overleap  who  had  not  attained 
to  the  proper  strain  of  manly  fortitude,  independence,  and 
endurance.  Drake,  at  bottom  a  man  of  gentle  nature,  a 
poet  and  a  lover  of  children,  hating  coarseness  and  vul- 
garity, once  got  into  a  rough-and-tumble  fight  with  a 
sarcastic  rival  who  came  off  with  a  blackened  eye  and 
a  laid-open  scalp.  Blackman,  a  pupil  of  Sir  William 
Fergusson,  a  brilliant  operator  who  translated  Velpeau's 
Surgery  and  once  was  banqueted  with  enthusiasm  by  the 
entire  surgical  profession  of  New  York  City,  was  forever 
wrangling  with  his  Cincinnati  colleagues  and  is  described 
as  "violent,  dictatorial,  jealous,  suspicious  or  melancholy 
...  a  hard  man  to  get  along  with,  all  on  account  of  his 
unbalanced  temperament."2  While  serving  as  a  brigade 
surgeon  of  volunteers  during  the  Civil  War,  he  once 
kicked  a  refractory  negro  waiter  the  whole  length  of  the  deck 

1  Cincinnati  Lancet-Clinic,  1888,  n.  s.,  xx.,  p.  301. 

3  Otto  Juettner,  Daniel  Drake,  Cincinnati,  1909,  p.  232. 


Early   Days  1 1 

of  a  hospital  ship.  Yet  he  fainted  during  the  vivisection  of 
a  pigeon,  and  was  such  a  child  in  money  matters  that  he  died 
destitute.  Graham,  who,  in  the  lecture-room,  was  a  tal- 
ented, captivating  actor  of  the  Dieulafoy  type,  a  sort  of  clin- 
ical Henry  Clay,  became  a  whimsical  old  bachelor  because 
he  could  not  avoid  quarrelling  with  the  father  of  the  lady  of 
his  choice,  and  prosperous  as  he  was,  sat  mewed  up  all  his 
life  in  a  shabby  office  in  a  little  two-story  house,  sneering 
at  the  holes  in  his  ragged  carpet  as  being  "worn  by  pa- 
tients" and  prodding  his  visitors  with  sly  Celtic  sarcasm. 

All  these  men  were  crudely  combative,  yet,  by  the  same 
token,  not  without  a  certain  rough  and  genuine  kindliness, 
like  that  which  Drake  displayed  towards  the  ill-starred 
Maryland  anatomist  Godman.  The  two  years  which 
young  Billings  spent  in  the  study  of  medicine  were,  in 
respect  of  privation,  the  hardest  of  his  life.  Here  he 
became  acquainted  with  the  uses  of  adversity  and  felt 
"the  iron  band  of  poverty  and  necessity, "  which  Emerson, 
speaking  of  similar  conditions  in  the  early  days  of  the 
New  England  community,  regarded  as  a  prime  factor  in 
the  development  of  integrity  and  independence  of  mind 
and  character  in  the  youth  of  those  days,  some  of  whom 
became  the  "strong  men,  with  empires  in  their  brains," 
who  laid  the  foundations  of  American  civilization  under 
these  frontier  conditions.  Billings  managed  to  pay  his 
way  through  his  medical  course  by  residing  in  the  hospital 
and  later  taking  care  of  the  dissecting  rooms  of  the  college. 
Dr.  Weir  Mitchell  relates  that  "of  these  years  of  privation 
he  spoke  to  me  once  or  twice,  with  assurance  of  his  belief 
that  he  never  recovered  from  the  effect  of  one  winter  in 
which  he  lived  on  seventy-five  cents  a  week. " 

Of  this  period  of  his  life  we  know  little  beyond  the  few 
reminiscences  which  he  has  himself  given  in  "The  Medical 
College  of  Ohio  before  the  War  " r : 

1  Cincinnati  Lancet-Clinic,  1888,  n.  s.,  xx.,  304. 


12  JoHn  SHaw  Billings 

The  men  of  my  time  will  remember  the  old  Commercial 
Hospital,  with  its  pest-house  in  the  back  yard,  and  its  peculiar 
atmosphere;  for  ventilation  was  practically  unknown  and 
scarcely  even  spoken  of  in  those  days. 

The  old  St.  John's  too,  with  its  grassy  slopes  and  the  great 
trees  in  front,  and  with  Sister  Anthony  and  her  devoted  band 
of  helpers,  remains  a  vivid  picture.  But  the  main  thing  to  us 
then  was  the  Faculty,  those  who  undertook  to  make  doctors  of 
us,  provided  we  had  been  thinking  about  medicine  for  a  year 
before  we  came,  and  would  attend  two  courses  of  lectures. 

We  miss  the  most  of  them:  Lawson  and  Graham,  Blackman, 
Mendenhall,  Judkins,  Wright  and  Clendenin  are  not  here,  but 
there  are  a  few  left,  and  long  may  they  flourish.  To  us  the  place 
of  our  old  teachers  can  never  seem  to  be  quite  filled,  any  more 
than  we  can  now  find  any  wine  which  is  as  good  as  Longworth's 
"  Golden  Wedding  "  brand  used  to  be  on  the  rare  occasions  when 
we  made  its  acquaintance ;  but  we  know  that  while  the  world 
spins  round  just  the  same  science  has  been  advancing,  teaching 
has  been  improving,  and  that  the  graduates  of  today  could  tell 
the  men  of  our  time  things  that  would  astonish  them  immensely. 
Twenty-eight  years  ago  we  heard  nothing  of  bacteria,  antiseptic 
surgery  was  unknown,  the  clinical  thermometer  and  the  hypo- 
dermic syringe  were  just  new  f  angled  notions  that  had  not  come 
into  use  and  that  few  of  us  had  even  seen. 

In  those  days  they  taught  us  medicine  as  you  teach  boys  to 
swim,  by  throwing  them  into  the  water. 

The  first  medical  lecture  I  ever  listened  to  was  a  clinical  one, 
at  which  three  or  four  cases  of  chronic  lung  disease  were  shown 
and  prescribed  for.  At  a  much  later  period  in  the  course  I 
heard  lectures  about  tubercle  and  the  tubercle  corpuscle,  and 
Virchow's  theories  of  the  same,  on  which  I  should  not  at  all 
like  to  stand  an  examination  to-day.  But  I  have  never  for- 
gotten the  few  remarks  in  that  first  clinical  lecture  on  the 
significance  of  slight,  jerking  respiration  and  prolonged  expira- 
tion heard  under  the  left  clavicle,  or  on  the  need  for  out-door 
life  for  such  cases,  and  I  could  still  give  the  formula  for  the 
placebo  cough  mixture  which  was  ordered,  and  which  I  have 
since  found  useful. 


Early   Days  13 

"Much  water  has  run  down"  in  the  thirty  years  which  have 
passed  since  Professor  Conner  and  myself  met  in  Dr.  Wood's 
office  to  recite  the  results  of  our  first  wrestle  with  Erasmus 
Wilson's  description  of  the  occipital  bone, — many  of  our  class- 
mates and  friends  have  finished  their  work  and  can  never  again 
come  back  to  us,  save  through  the  ivory  gate  of  dreams. 

During  1858-59,  Billings  was  interne  at  the  St.  John's 
Hospital  and  during  1859-60,  he  held  a  similar  position  in 
the  Commercial  Hospital  of  Cincinnati.  While  in  resi- 
dence at  the  former  institution  he  came  in  contact  with 
one  who  was  to  be  a  constant  and  loyal  friend  in  after-life. 
This  was  Sister  Anthony  (O'Connell)1  who  had  been  in 

1  Sister  Anthony  was  a  native  of  Limerick,  Ireland,  who,  coming  to 
America  as  a  child,  entered  the  Community  at  Emmitsburg,  and,  after 
settling  in  Cincinnati  in  1837,  was  successively  in  charge  of  the  orphans  at 
St.  Peter's  Orphan  Asylum,  St.  Aloysius  Asylum  (1853),  and  St,  Joseph 
Orphanage  (1854).  During  the  Civil  War  Sister  Anthony  played  a  part 
like  that  of  Florence  Nightingale  in  the  Crimea.  She  sprang  into  action  at 
once,  not  only  in  the  wards  of  St.  John's,  which  was  soon  filled  to  overflow- 
ing with  wounded  soldiers,  but  on  the  battlefield  as  well.  "To  the  soldiers 
of  both  armies,"  says  Juettner,  "her  name  had  a  magic  ring  of  wonderful 
power.  To  them  she  was  the  incarnation  of  angelic  goodness  that  seemed 
like  a  visitation  from  realms  celestial.  On  the  battlefield  of  Shiloh,  amid  a 
veritable  ocean  of  blood,  she  performed  the  most  revolting  duties  to  these 
poor  soldiers.  Neither  the  cries  of  anguish  of  the  dying  nor  the  unbearable 
stench  from  dead  bodies  could  check  her  in  her  ministrations.  To  the 
young  soldier  that  lay,  fatally  wounded,  upon  that  bloody  ground  and  was 
thinking  of  a  lone  mother  at  home,  Sister  Anthony  brought  the  comfort  and 
peace  of  a  mother's  care.  In  such  moments,  it  was  the  instinct  of  the  woman 
in  her  that  enabled  her  to  soothe  the  aching  heart  while  relieving  the  pangs 
of  physical  suffering.  Then  again  she  stood  bravely  and  attentively  at  the 
side  of  George  Blackman,  helping  him  in  his  operative  work  on  the  deck 
of  one  of  the  floating  hospitals  of  the  Ohio  River.  Limbs  were  quickly 
amputated  and  consigned  to  a  watery  grave.  There  seemed  to  be  no  limit 
to  Blackman's  endurance.  But  no  matter  how  hard  the  work  or  how  trying 
the  scene,  Sister  Anthony  was  always  at  her  post,  her  only  regret  being 
that  she  could  not  do  more  for  her  fellow-men,  for  her  country  and  for  her 
God.  It  was  this  kind  of  a  record  that  has  perpetuated  her  name  beside 
those  of  the  most  famous  commanders."  Otto  Juettner,  Daniel  Drake, 
Cincinnati,  1909,  pp.  418-419. 


14  JoHn  SHaw  Billings 

charge  of  old  St.  John's  since  1856,  and  who,  with  her 
sister  ministrants,  began  to  take  a  kindly  interest  in  the 
young  student  who  had  come  to  live  and  work  among 
them.  It  is  said  that  his  grave,  serious  ways,  his  austere 
life,  the  look  of  mild  melancholy  in  his  blue  eyes,  won  their 
regard  in  such  wise  that  he  became  known  among  these 
ladies  as  "St.  John  of  the  Hospital."  They  became 
greatly  attached  to  him  in  a  sisterly  way,  and  later  took 
pleasure  in  making  beautiful  embroidered  things  for  his 
infant  daughter.  With  Sister  Anthony,  he  maintained  a 
lifelong  friendship. 

At  Harvard,  Billings  said,  thirty-five  years  later: 

Some  thirty-three  years  ago,  a  long  time  ago,  "in  the  days 
when  Plancus  was  consul, "  I  graduated  in  medicine  in  a  two- 
years'  course  of  five  months'  lectures  each,  the  lectures  being 
precisely  the  same  for  each  year.  I  had  become  a  resident  in 
the  hospital  at  the  end  of  the  first  year's  studies.  There  was  I 
a  resident  of  the  City  Hospital  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  beds, 
where  I  was  left  practically  alone  for  the  next  six  months,  the 
staff  not  troubling  themselves  very  much  to  come  during  the 
summer  time,  when  there  was  no  teaching.  Remember  this 
was  a  long  time  ago,  "when  Plancus  was  consul."  In  those 
two  years  I  did  not  attend  the  systematic  lectures  very  regu- 
larly. I  found  that  by  reading  the  text-books,  I  could  get  more 
in  the  same  time  and  with  very  much  less  trouble.  I  practi- 
cally lived  in  the  dissecting-room  and  in  the  clinics,  and  the 
very  first  lecture  I  ever  heard  was  a  clinical  lecture.  The 
systematic  teaching  of  those  times  I  have  had  to  unlearn  for 
the  most  part.  There  is  a  new  chemistry,  a  new  physiology,  a 
new  pathology.  What  has  remained  is  what  I  got  in  the  dis- 
secting-room and  in  the  clinics.1 

One  of  the  requirements  for  graduation  of  the  Medical 
College  of  Ohio  was  the  writing  of  a  graduating  disserta- 

1  Boston  Med.  and  Surg.  Journal,  1894,  cxxxi.,  141. 


Early   Days  15 

tion  concerning  which  Dr.  Billings  said,  in  his  Cincinnati 
address,  that  "the  performance  of  this  melancholy  duty 
has  not  only  influenced  the  greater  part  of  my  work  for 
the  last  twenty  years,  but  is  the  essential  though  remote 
cause  of  my  being  here  to-night. " 

This  has  happened  in  this  wise:  In  the  thesis  just  referred 
to,  it  was  desirable  to  give  the  statistics  of  the  results  obtained 
from  certain  surgical  operations  as  applied  to  the  treatment  of 
epilepsy.  To  find  these  data  in  their  original  and  authentic 
form  required  the  consulting  of  many  books,  and  to  get  at 
these  books  I  not  only  ransacked  all  the  libraries,  public  and 
private,  to  which  I  could  get  access  in  Cincinnati,  but  for  those 
volumes  not  found  here  (and  these  were  the  greater  portion), 
search  was  made  in  Philadelphia,  New  York  and  elsewhere,  to 
ascertain  if  they  were  in  any  accessible  libraries  in  this  country. 

After  about  six  months  of  this  sort  of  work  and  correspon- 
dence I  became  convinced  of  three  things.  The  first  was,  that 
it  involves  a  vast  amount  of  time  and  labour  to  search  through 
a  thousand  volumes  of  medical  books  and  journals  for  items  on 
a  particular  subject,  and  that  the  indexes  of  such  books  and 
journals  cannot  always  be  relied  on  as  a  guide  to  their  con- 
tents. The  second  was,  that  there  are,  in  existence  somewhere, 
over  100,000  volumes  of  such  medical  books  and  journals,  not 
counting  pamphlets  and  reprints.  And  the  third  was,  that  while 
there  was  nowhere,  in  the  world,  a  library  which  contained  all 
medical  literature,  there  was  not  in  the  United  States  any 
fairly  good  library,  one  in  which  a  student  might  hope  to  find 
a  large  part  of  the  literature  relating  to  any  medical  subject, 
and  that  if  one  wished  to  do  good  bibliographical  work  to 
verify  the  references  given  by  European  medical  writers,  or  to 
make  reasonably  sure  that  one  had  before  him  all  that  had 
been  seen  or  done  by  previous  observers  or  experimenters  on  a 
given  subject,  he  must  go  to  Europe  and  visit,  not  merely  one, 
but  several  of  the  great  capital  cities  in  order  to  accomplish  his 
desire. 

It  was  this  experience  which  led  me  when  a  favourable 


16  JoKn  SHaw  Billing's 

opportunity  offered  at  the  close  of  the  war,  to  try  to  establish, 
for  the  use  of  American  physicians,  a  fairly  complete  medical 
library,  and  in  connection  with  this  to  prepare  a  comprehensive 
catalogue  and  index  which  should  spare  medical  teachers  and 
writers  the  drudgery  of  consulting  ten  thousand  or  more 
different  indexes,  or  of  turning  over  the  leaves  of  as  many 
volumes  to  find  the  dozen  or  so  references  of  which  they 
might  be  in  search. x 

The  thesis  on  "The  Surgical  Treatment  of  Epilepsy" 
was  published  in  the  Cincinnati  Lancet  and  Observer  (June 
1861,  pp.  334-341),  and  is  a  careful  and  creditable  survey 
of  the  operations  then  in  vogue  for  the  condition  and  their 
indications,  giving  two  cases  from  Blackman's  clinic  and  a 
tabulation  of  seventy-two  cases  operated  upon  by  other 
surgeons.  It  has  for  its  motto  the  aphorism  of  Celsus — 
' '  Verumgue  est,  ad  ipsam  curandi  rationem,  nihil  plus 
conferre,  quam  experientiam, "  and  begins  as  follows: 

Believing,  as  I  do,  fully  in  the  truth  of  the  maxim  of  Celsus, 
given  above,  I  propose  in  the  following  article  to  consider  the 
operations  which  have  been  employed  from  time  to  time  by 
surgeons  and  physicians  for  the  relief  of  one  of  the  most  mys- 
terious maladies  in  the  nosological  scale,  as  well  as  one  of  the 
most  rebellious  to  treatment.  I  refer  to  epilepsy.  In  this 
disease,  certainly  our  boasted  lamp,  experience,  only  serves  to 
make  the  darkness  more  visible;  and  I  fear  that  the  modern 
physician,  with  all  the  science  and  wisdom  of  this  progressive 
nineteenth  century,  effects  but  little  more  with  his  preparations 
of  silver  and  zinc  than  did  Hippocrates  with  his  hellebore ;  and 
it  is  not  at  all  impossible  that  the  sage  of  Cos  was  thinking  of 
some  cases  of  this  kind  when  he  uttered  the  latter  part  of  his 
celebrated  aphorism,  "Experience  doubtful,  and  judgment 
difficult." 

One  sentence  shows  his  interest  in  the  hypodermic 
syringe,  which  was  just  then  coming  into  use  and  of  which 

1  Cincinnati  Lancet-Clinic,  1888,  n.  s.,  xx.,  297. 


Early   Days  17 

he  was  careful  to  provide  himself  with  a  specimen  on  enter- 
ing upon  his  duties  as  an  army  surgeon  during  the  Civil 
War: 

"In  some  of  these  cases  I  should  advise  the  trial  of  the 
hypodermic,  narcotic  injections,  introduced  by  Dr.  Alex- 
ander Wood,  of  Edinburgh,  for  the  cure  of  neuralgia. " 

The  little  essay  concludes,  as  it  opens,  with  a  paragraph 
which  already  exhibits  the  strong  common  sense  and  subtle 
humour  which  were  to  distinguish  the  later  writings  of 
Billings: 

In  conclusion,  if  the  surgeon  meets  with  cases,  and  they 
undoubtedly  will  be  the  majority  to  which  none  of  the  pre- 
ceding remarks  apply,  and  feels  nevertheless  compelled  to  do 
something,  I  should  advise  the  application  of  the  trephine, 
having  first  fairly  explained  to  the  patient  the  risk  he  is  about 
to  run,  as  all  that  can  be  said  of  any  operation  applies  to  this, 
and  if  it  does  not  prove  immediately  fatal,  and  he  reports  the 
case  early,  say  within  the  first  month,  it  will  in  very  many 
cases  come  into  the  list  of  cases  of  epilepsy  cured  by  surgical 
treatment. 

Upon  taking  his  medical  degree,  Dr.  Billings  became, 
in  the  fall  of  1860,  demonstrator  of  anatomy1  in  the 

1  The  appointment  is  announced  in  an  advertisement  in  a  faded  copy  of 
the  Daily  Times  newspaper  of  Cincinnati  for  Wednesday  evening  (Oct. 
24,  1860),  which  reads  as  follows: 

MEDICAL   COLLEGE   OF   OHIO 

The  regular  course  of  Lectures  in  this  institution  will  commence  October 
22,  1860,  and  continue  until  the  latter  part  of  February,  '61.  Clinical 
Lectures  at  the  Hospital  will  commence  on  the  first  of  October  and  continue 
during  the  College  term. 

FACULTY: 

Obstetrics  and  Diseases  of  Women  and  Children, 
M.  B.  WRIGHT,  M.D. 

Surgery   and    Clinical    Surgery, 
GEORGE   C.   BLACKMAN,   M.D. 


l8  JoKn  SHaw  Billings 

Medical  College  of  Ohio,  which  made  his  circumstances 
somewhat  easier.  He  was  also  beginning  to  get  in  touch 
with  surgical  practice  through  the  good  offices  of  Pro- 
fessor Blackman,  who  the  next  year  (1861)  was  already 
offering  to  take  him  in  partnership  as  his  assistant.  Had 
this  come  to  pass,  Billings  would  no  doubt  have  become 
one  of  the  leading  surgeons  of  Cincinnati  and  of  the  United 
States.  But  this  was  not  to  be.  His  fortunes  and  his 
career  were  abruptly  veered  into  their  true  course  by  the 
event  of  the  Civil  War. 

Practice  of  Medicine, 
JAMES  GRAHAM,  M.D. 

Anatomy, 
M.  W.  DAWSON,  M.D. 

Physiology  and  Pathology, 
J.  F.  HIBBERD,  M.D. 

Materia  Medica, 
J.  C.  REEVE,  M.D. 

Chemistry  and  Toxicology, 
CHARLES  O'LEARY,  M.D. 

Demonstrator, 
JOHN  S.  BILLINGS,  M.D. 

Prosector  to  Prof.  Surgery, 
CHARLES  THORNTON,  M.D. 

Professors'  Tickets,  including  Hospital  Ticket $105 

Matriculation  Tickets 5 

Demonstrators'  Tickets 6 

Graduation  Fee 25 

Good  boarding  from  $3  to  $5. 

{3P"  Hospital  advantages  unsurpassed. 

M.  B.  WRIGHT,  M.D.,  Dean. 


CHAPTER  II 

EXPERIENCES  OF  A  MEDICAL  OFFICER  DURING  THE  CIVIL 

WAR 

T  the  outbreak  of  the  War,  Dr.  Billings  was  still 
demonstrator  of  anatomy  in  the  Medical  College  of 
Ohio,  and  was  debating  in  his  mind  the  question  of 
going  into  a  surgical  partnership  with  his  former  pre- 
ceptor, an  opportunity  which,  in  relation  to  his  training 
in  anatomy,  opened  out  unusual  chances  of  success  and 
prosperity.  When  the  crucial  moment  came,  he  was  not 
found  wanting.  In  September,  1861,  he  was  invited  to 
appear  before  the  Examining  Board  for  admission  to  the 
Medical  Corps  of  the  United  States  Army  and  some  time 
later  was  given  his  examination,1  passing  first  in  the  list 
of  candidates.  He  was  appointed  First  Lieutenant  and 
Assistant  Surgeon  on  April  16,  1862,  and  accepted  the 
appointment  on  July  i6th.  As  General  Woodhull,  one 
of  his  colleagues  in  the  field,  has  well  said: 

That  was  his  offering,  not  to  politics  nor  to  sectionalism, 
but  to  the  country.  Those  young  men  of  1861  who  laid  their 
professional  gifts  upon  the  military  altar  were  no  less  patriotic 
than  the  other  ingenuous  youth  whose  immediate  duty  was 
combat  with  arms.2 

1  The  examinations  were  delayed  by  lack  of  vacancies. 
3  General  Alfred  A.  Woodhull,  Jour.  Military  Service  InsL,  Governor's 
Island,  N.  Y.  H.,  1913,  liii.,  329. 

19 


2O  JoKn  SHaw  Billings 

Billings's  experiences  at  this  examination  and  sub- 
sequently may  be  given  in  his  own  words : 

In  the  Fall  of  1861,  I  went  to  Washington  to  appear  before 
the  Medical  Examining  Board  of  the  Regular  Army.  I  had 
graduated  from  a  medical  college  after  a  two  years'  course, 
each  year  having  exactly  the  same  lectures.  I  had  had  two 
years'  hospital  experience,  and  I  had  been  demonstrator  of 
anatomy  for  two  years,  so  that  while  I  had  my  doubts  about 
my  passing  the  ordeal  of  the  Army  Medical  Board,  from  what 
I  had  heard  of  its  severity,  still  I  thought  that  probably  I 
should  get  through.  I  came  up  before  the  Board,  and  at  about 
noon  of  the  second  day  I  began  to  feel  rather  comfortable  and 
thought  I  was  getting  on  very  well;  but  by  noon  of  the  third 
day  there  was  a  consultation  between  the  examiners,  and  they 
began  all  over  again,  going  back  to  anatomy  and  to  the  begin- 
ning of  things.  That  went  on  for  three  days  more  and  made  me 
very  uneasy.  I  did  not  learn  the  explanation  of  this  until  long 
afterward.  When  it  was  all  over  Dr.  McLaren,1  the  President 
of  the  Board,  said  to  me  that  he  hoped  I  would  take  service 
at  once  with  him — that  he  could  not  get  my  commission  for 
some  time,  but  that  I  could  be  made  a  contract  surgeon  with- 
out delay.  I  agreed  to  this,  was  introduced  to  Surgeon- 
General  Finley,2  got  my  contract,  and  was  told  that  I  was 
especially  detailed  to  go  to  the  Union  Hotel  Hospital  in  George- 
town, which  was  under  the  direction  of  Surgeon  McLaren. 

I  began  service,  and  had  three  things  with  me  that  none  of 
the  other  surgeons  had:  A  set  of  clinical  thermometers  like 
those  Dr.  Keen  talked  about,  a  straight  one  and  one  with  a 
curve;  a  hypodermic  syringe,  and  a  Symes  staff  for  urethral 
stricturotomy.  The  hypodermic  syringe  was  in  constant 
requisition.  The  clinical  thermometer  was  troublesome  and 
was  not  used  very  much.  The  Medical  Director  of  the  Army3 

1  Adam  Neil  McLaren  (1805-74),  medical  officer,  United  States  Army, 
1833-74. 

2  Clement  A.  Finley,  Surgeon-General,  United  States  Army,  1861-2. 

3  Army  of  the  Potomac. 


JOHN  SHAW  BILLINGS 

186.1 --/ET-.-25- 


His  Civil  War  Experiences  21 

was  Dr.  Charles  S.  Tripler,1  who  had  seen  me  operate  for 
stricture  of  the  urethra  the  year  before  and  thought  the  results 
were  very  good.  Consequently  whenever  any  surgeon  of 
troops  about  Washington  applied  for  the  discharge  of  one  of 
his  men  for  the  reason  that  he  had  an  impermeable  stricture 
of  the  urethra,  instead  of  granting  the  discharge,  Dr.  Tripler 
sent  that  case  to  me.  There  was  quite  a  number  of  them,  but 
I  have  no  statistics  of  my  cases. 

One  day  in  the  Spring  of  1862  I  was  in  the  hospital  office 
when  two  men  walked  in — one  a  large  man  with  an  air  of  im- 
portance, the  other  a  small  man  who  had  said  very  little.  The 
large  man  said  they  would  like  to  see  some  of  the  cases  in  the 
hospital.  They  did  not  give  their  names,  but  I  thought  it  was 
proper  to  show  the  cases,  and  so  took  them  around.  Practi- 
cally I  had  done  most  of  the  operations  in  the  hospital.  After 
spending  about  two  hours  they  went  down  to  the  desk  and  the 
big  man  said  to  me,  "Dr.  Billings,  I  wanted  to  see  the  man 
who  beat  my  student  Adams.  "2  I  told  him  I  didn't  know  who 
"Adams"  was.  He  said,  "Don't  you  know  the  results  of 
your  examination?"  I  said,  "No."  He  then  said,  "When 
you  came  up  for  examination  they  had  finished  their  class,  and 
the  report  was  just  ready  to  go  in,  when  you  were  sent  over 
with  an  order  to  be  examined.  They  looked  up  your  paper, 
found  that  you  were  born  in  Indiana,  and  thought  they  would 
make  short  business  of  it.  At  the  end  of  the  first  day  they 
concluded  that  probably  you  would  pass,  but  hoped  it  would 
not  be  necessary  to  change  the  order  of  precedence  in  the  roll, 
and  that  you  could  come  in  at  the  bottom.  The  second  day 
they  thought  they  would  have  to  put  your  name  higher  up, 
and  on  the  third  day  they  concluded  that  you  would  be  at  the 
head  of  the  class,  but  that,  to  be  fair,  they  ought  to  ask  you  the 
same  questions  that  they  had  asked  Dr.  Adams,  who  was 
previously  the  head  of  the  class,  and  so  they  began  all  over 
again  with  you."  I  then  learned  that  my  callers  were  Dr. 


'Charles  S.  Tripler,  Medical  Officer,  United   States  Army,  1830-66; 
Medical  Director,  Army  of  the  Potomac,  1861-2. 

*  Samuel  Adams,  Medical  Officer,  United  States  Army,  1862-7. 


22  JoKn  SKa-w  Billings 

Hammond,1  Surgeon-General,  and  Dr.  Letterman,2  Medical 
Director  of  the  Army  of  the  Potomac.  Dr.  Hammond  said  to 
me:  "Day  after  to-morrow  all  the  surgeons  in  this  hospital 
will  be  relieved,  which  will  leave  you  in  charge.  You  will  be 
sent  some  contract  doctors,  and  you  are  to  go  to  the  cavalry 
barracks  at  Cliffburne,  on  the  hill  back  of  Georgetown,  turn 
them  into  a  hospital,  and  move  this  hospital  out  there  as  soon 
as  possible."3 

When  Dr.  Billings  took  charge  of  the  Cliffburne  Hospi- 
tal,4 which  had  been  previously  occupied  by  the  Fifth 
United  States  Cavalry,  he  found  the  buildings  and  grounds 
"in  an  extremely  filthy  and  dilapidated  condition, — no 
drainage  whatever,  no  sinks,  no  water  within  half  a  mile. " 
He  immediately  set  in  motion  some  important  sanitary 
reforms : 

Five  buildings,  the  old  barracks,  were  first  fitted  up,  addi- 
tional doors  and  windows  being  inserted  and  the  system  of 
ridge  ventilation  adopted.  Apertures  were  also  cut  in  the 
sides  of  the  buildings  near  the  floor,  and  every  part  well  white- 
washed inside  and  out.  A  thorough  system  of  drainage  was 
instituted  and  three  wells  dug  and  fitted  with  large  wooden 
pumps.  These,  however,  were  insufficient,  and  one  team  is  in 
constant  use  bringing  water  from  a  distance.  A  new  building 
for  kitchen  and  mess-room  was  built,  200  feet  in  length  and 
15  in  width,  and  Ball's  patent  range  placed  therein,  capable,  as 
found  by  experience,  of  cooking  easily  for  1000  persons.  .  .  . 
One  hundred  and  five  hospital  tents  were  pitched,  framed  and 
floored,  and  two  additional  buildings  fitted  up,  making  the 

1  William  A.  Hammond,  Surgeon-General,  United  States  Army,  1862-4. 

2  Jonathan  Letterman,  Surgeon,  United  States  Army,  1849-64;  Medical 
Director,  Army  of  the  Potomac,  1862-4. 

s  Tr.  Coll.  Phys.,  Phila.,  1905,  115-117. 

« His  assignment  to  this  post  is  dated  May  9,  1862.  At  that  time  he  was 
stationed  at  Union  Hospital,  Georgetown,  D.  C.  Dr.  Billings  was  ordered 
to  remove  the  patients  and  property  at  the  latter  hospital  to  Cliffburne 
Barracks. 


His  Civil  "War  Experiences  23 

number  of  beds  in  the  hospital  one  thousand.  A  bath-  and 
wash-room  50  feet  in  length  was  also  built,  and  four  tubs  are 
in  constant  use.  Three  washing-machines  are  used  in  the 
wash-room — and  both  hot  and  cold  water  freely  supplied. 
An  apothecary  shop,  store-room,  clothing-rooms,  knapsack- 
room,  dead-house,  guard-house,  stable,  etc.,  were  also  fitted 
up.  Fifteen  Sisters  of  Charity  are  employed  as  nurses;  they 
prepare  all  extra  articles  of  diet.  Of  their  services  and  conduct 
I  can  speak  only  in  terms  of  the  highest  praise.1 

In  the  autumn  of  1861,  Dr.  Billings  met  in  Georgetown, 
D.  C.,  his  future  wife,  Miss  Kate  M.  Stevens,  a  daughter  of 
Hon.  Hester  L.  Stevens,  a  native  of  Rochester,  New  York, 
who  settled  in  Pontiac,  Michigan,  became  a  prominent 
lawyer  in  his  adopted  State  and  represented  its  Fourth 
District  in  Congress  in  1852,  afterward  taking  up  his 
residence  in  Washington,  D.  C.,  where  he  remained  until 
his  death,  May  7,  1864.  Dr.  Billings  and  Miss  Stevens 
were  married  in  St.  John's  Church,  Georgetown,  on 
September  3,  1862.  From  his  letters  to  her  prior  to  this 
event,  we  gain  some  further  sidelights  upon  his  experiences 
at  Cliffburne  Hospital. 

June,  1862.  Funny  world  this  is — great  pity  that  people 
can't  always  see  just  where  the  joke  comes  in.  An  old  fool 
has  been  persecuting  me  for  half  an  hour  with  all  sorts  of  ques- 
tions just  because  he  was  once  a  schoolmate  of  mine  at  Oxford. 
Since  then  he  has  either  risen  or  sunk  to  the  dignity  of  reporter 
for  the  public  press  and  is  going  round  like  a  roaring  lion 
"wanting  to  know"  you  know.  How  his  eyes  shone  when  he 
recognized  me — he  scented  a  victim  afar  off.  The  Secretary  of 

the was  out  here  to-day — a  short,  pursy,  vulgar  sort  of 

man  with  an  underdone  face  and  oyster-like  eyes  and  afraid 
of  his  wife  like  a  good  Christian  and  a  gentleman — or  any  other 
man.  I've  just  received  an  order  to  send  off  two  hundred 

1  Medical  and  Surgical  History,  War  of  the  Rebellion,  Washington,  1888, 
Pt.  iii.,  v.  i.,  Med.  Hist.,  p.  910. 


24  JoKn  SHaw  Billings 

convalescents  and  the  Hospital  looks  like  a  beehive  just  before 
swarming  time.  The  chronic  rheumatism  men  are  turning 
out  in  high  glee  for  they  think  they  are  going  to  where  they  will 
be  discharged. 

Victims  of  misplaced  confidence 
My  heart  bleeds  for  you!  !  !  .  .  . 


.  .  .  There  is.  an  evil  which  I  have  seen  under  the  sun  and  it 
is — to  have  one  of  the  Hospital  cooks  steal  half  the  ration  of 
coffee  issued  and  then  be  assailed  by  the  unfortunate  cripples 
with  the  news  that  their  coffee  tastes  like  dish  water.  Didn't 
I  suppress  the  cook  aforesaid  however. 

June  19.  After  I  left  you  I  went  to  Willard's,  where  I  met 
all  the  fogies  that  I  told  you  about,  and  then  I  came  out  home, 
found  one  of  my  stewards  drunk,  wound  him  up,  and  went  to 
bed.  Went  to  town  this  morning,  got  the  Flag  and  am  going 
to  have  the  Marine  Band ;  bought  the  New  York  Times  of  the 
1 8th  inst.  where  I  found  a  notice  of  your  humble  servant,  and 
came  home.  Found  a  letter  here  from  Mother  which  you  shall 
read  when  you  come  back — plenty  of  good  things  in  it  for  you. 
Also  found  three  letters  wanting  to  know  you  know.  Then  I 
got  some  dinner  and  a  poor  dinner  it  was,  and  then  I  smoked  a 
cigar  and  wondered  what  you  were  about.  Then  I  signed  my 
name  53  times — saw  a  number  of  visitors  and  looked  about 
through  the  wards  in  a  patronizing  sort  of  way — and  then  it  was 

supper  time.      After  that  I  rode  to  town  and  saw  Mrs.  D 

who  is  now  out  of  danger.  Coming  back  Guy  put  his  foot  in  a 
hole  while  at  a  full  gallop  and  fell  bringing  his  whole  weight 
upon  me.  It  hurt  me  pretty  badly,  and  I  should  have  fainted 
only  there  was  nobody  about  to  pick  me  up  and  I  thought  it 
wouldn't  pay.  My  lately  ascendant  lucky  star  preserved  me 
however  and  no  bones  were  broken,  all  the  result  being  a  little 
bruised  and  somewhat  frightened.  I  shall  stay  in  bed  all  day 
to-morrow  and  that  will  prove  an  all  sufficient  panacea. 

June  21,  1862.  Crowds  of  visitors  to-day — this  being 
visiting  day.  .  .  .  The  roses  are  swinging  lazily  in  the  wind 


His  Civil  "War  Experiences  25 

out  on  the  balcony  and  have  a  sort  of  Saturday  night  look 
about  them  which  is  very  pleasant.  One  little  bud  has  been 
nodding  directly  at  me  in  a  jocular  sort  of  a  way  for  the  last 
ten  minutes.  I  shall  be  aggravated  into  going  out  and  picking 
it  before  long  and  if  I  do,  I'll  send  it.  I  wish  that  my  week's 
work  was  over  though — Sunday  don't  bring  much  consolation, 
seeing  that  all  visitors  ruffle  their  plumes  on  that  day.  ...  I 
have  received  17  official  letters  to-day  and  have  come  to  the 
conclusion  that  the  best  way  to  manage  them  is  to  put  them 
in  pigeon  holes  and  wait  a  day  or  two.  I  should  like  to  mount 
Guy  and  ride  in  to  see  you  to-night. 

June  25,  1862.  It  is  dark  and  sultry  and  great  thick  walls  of 
silence  are  shutting  me  in;  the  roses  on  the  balcony  do  not 
even  quiver  and  even  the  moths  flutter  about  but  listlessly. 
My  table  is  covered  with  letters,  papers,  and  orders  which 
have  been  accumulating  all  day,  but  I  have  pushed  them 
all  aside  and  secured  a  foot  square  of  clear  space  for  your 
benefit — or  rather  mine,  for  I  am  tired,  my  eyes  are  large, 
and  I  want  to  talk  to  you.  ...  I  do  not  think  I  shall  be 
ordered  off  unless  some  change  happens  in  the  army  before 
Richmond.  .  .  . 

June  28,  1862.  I  went  down  to  Washington  this  morning 
and  transacted  a  good  deal  of  official  shopping  which  is,  I  think, 
just  as  difficult  and  tiresome  as  your  shopping  can  be,  but 
succeeded  very  well  and  made  the  highly  pleasing  discovery 
that  I  am  not  to  be  ordered  off  yet  a  while.  So  I  came  back 
refreshed  and  went  to  work  here,  ordering  everybody  about  in 
the  most  vigorous  manner,  and  signing  papers  and  letters  like 
a  whirlwind.  Then  the  expected  white  envelope  from  Reading 
came  in  and  was  deliberately  put  away  until  I  could  en- 
joy it  without  interruption.  So  after  dinner,  I  lit  a  cigar  and 
strolled  down  into  the  woods,  where  no  one  would  think 
of  looking  for  me,  and  passed  a  pleasant  hour.  .  .  .  The 
crowd  of  visitors  who  came  out  of  merely  idle  or  vulgar  curi- 
osity has  become  small  by  degrees  and  beautifully  less,  and  I 
don't  have  so  very  much  bother  or  trouble  now  in  that  respect. 


26  JoHn  SHaw  Billing's 

July  I,  1862.  I  expect  loads  of  wounded  in  a  day  or  two 
but  hope  they  will  keep  off  till  I  get  my  accounts  and  papers 
made  up. 

July  2,  1862.  Hurrah  for  me!  I've  got  the  muster  rolls 
and  pay  accounts  of  my  six  hundred  men  all  made  out  and 
sent  in,  and  was  informed  that  they  were  correct,  also  had  a 
little  malicious  pleasure  in  being  informed  that  most  of  the 
other  hospital  rolls  were  incorrect.  .  .  .  To-morrow  morning 
I  begin  on  my  property  accounts  and  then  this  abominable 
bookkeeping  business  will  be  done.  And  then  I  shall  be  as 
jolly  as  ever  again  and  will  be  able  to  say  from  the  bottom  of 
my  heart,  what  fun!  Come  stand  behind  my  chair  and  look 

at  a  picture.    Just  on  the  other  side  of  the  table  sits  Dr. 

also  writing  a  letter  with  his  paper  almost  touching  mine.  He 
has  a  black  velvet  smoking  cap  on,  beneath  which  his  red  face 
looms  out  like  the  moon  in  a  foggy  night — a  rough  coat  on,  no 
cravat — and  the  stump  of  a  burned-out  cigar  between  his 
teeth,  altogether  the  most  disreputable  looking  man  I  ever  saw. 
He  is  (tell  it  not  in  Gath)  writing  a  letter  to  Miss  H.  proposing 
to  her  to  love,  honour,  and  obey  him  for  the  rest  of  his  natural 
life.  He  don't  more  than  half  want  to  do  it,  but  after  a  long 
talk  with  me  he  has  set  to  work.  I  caught  a  ghastly  wink  from 
him  just  now  as  I  looked  up.  Altogether  he  reminds  me  very 
much  of  Sam  Weller  when  he  was  writing  his  famous  valentine. 
If  you  could  only  see  his  mouth,  twisting  and  vacillating  about 
the  corners  while  he  writes,  you  would  laugh  until  you  cried. 
I  think  he  will  be  accepted — if  so  I  hope  it  will  change  him 
very  materially. 

July  3.  Have  just  got  back  from  a  visit  to  Washington 
where  I  got  your  letter  which  did  me  a  world  of  good.  I  also 
got  a  Philadelphia  Enquirer  in  which  is  the  announcement  of 
my  confirmation  by  the  Senate — another  piece  of  good  news. 
We  have  been  defeated  at  Richmond  I  am  very  sorry  to  say, 
and  the  wounded  will  be  pouring  in  here  day  after  to-morrow. 
I  must  have  a  good  night's  sleep  and  get  well  braced  up  to  be 
ready  for  them. 


His  Civil  War  Experiences  27 

The  last  letter  of  this  series  relates  to  the  operative 
work  done  upon  the  Union  and  Confederate  wounded  of 
the  Seven  Days  before  Richmond,  an  experience  in  which 
Dr.  Billings  was  assisted  by  fifteen  Sisters  of  Charity,  who 
took  charge  of  the  nursing. 

July  7,  1862.  I  catch  a  moment's  breathing  spell  just  to 
let  you  know  that  I  am  alive  and  that  is  all.  I've  received 
200  wounded,  and  have  been  operating  24  hours  steadily, 
shoulder  joints  and  elbow  joints,  arms,  legs,  etc.,  etc. — glorious 
opportunity  to  acquire  a  reputation  and  surgical  glory  but  to 
use  C.'s  pet  phrase,  I  am  nearly  crapulated.  Hot — well  I 
should  rather  think  it  was — perfectly  boiling.  .  .  .  Just  as  I 
had  written  thus  far  I  was  interrupted  by  the  arrival  of  125 
more  wounded  and  just  as  I  was  hard  at  work  with  them,  lo  and 
behold  here  come  the  Medical  Director,  Surgeon- General, 
Chief  Inspector  of  Hospitals  and  6  Surgeons — to  see  me  operate. 
So  I  cut  off  an  arm  and  cut  out  a  shoulder  joint  for  their  benefit 
and  they  went  away  firmly  convinced  that  I  knew  all  about  it. 
It  is  now  12  P.M.  and  I  am  so  sleepy — I  will  write  you  one  more 
letter  to-morrow  night  and  then  will  wait  until  Friday.  Good- 
night. 

Many  years  afterward,  in  describing  his  experience 
while  on  this  duty,  Dr.  Billings  expressed  himself  as 
follows : 

One  of  the  difficulties  at  Cliffburne  was  that  we  had  a  large 
number  of  Confederate  as  well  as  of  Union  wounded.  The  old 
residents  of  Georgetown  and  Washington  were  mostly  in 
sympathy  with  the  Confederates,  and  came  out  bringing  good 
things  to  eat  and  drink,  with  the  desire  that  these  things  should 
be  for  the  exclusive  use  of  the  Confederates.  On  the  other 
hand,  the  ladies  of  the  families  of  members  of  Congress  and  of 
officers  in  the  departments  were  enthusiastic  for  the  Northern 
side,  and  they  also  came  with  various  good  things,  but  with 
the  specification  that  none  should  go  to  the  rebels.  We  would 
not  receive  gifts  from  either  party  on  these  terms,  but  after  a 


28  JoHn  SHaw   Billing's 

little  explanation  they  were  left  to  be  used  for  those  who 
needed  them  most. 

I  remember  a  member  of  Congress  from  New  York  City  who 
came  up  and  said:  "You  have  got  a  lot  of  my  boys  here;  I 
would  like  to  do  something  for  them,  something  that  the 
papers  will  notice  you  know.  What  do  you  think  I  had  better 
give  them?"  I  said:  "They  have  all  got  more  or  less  scurvy, 
and  I  think  fresh  strawberries  would  do  them  good.  You  might 
have  a  strawberry  festival,  and  have  a  band  here. " 

He  agreed  and  it  was  a  great  success,  as  the  reporters  duly 
proclaimed.1 

Between  August  29,  1862,  and  March  31,  1863, 2  Dr. 

Billings  was  on  duty  at  the  United  States  Army  General 
Hospital  at  West  Philadelphia,  afterward  called  the 
Satterlee  Hospital,  of  which  he  became  executive  officer. 
His  marriage  took  place  September  3d,  a  few  days  after 
his  appointment  there,  and  during  part  of  his  stay  in  Phila- 
delphia, his  wife  resided  in  that  city.  This  hospital  was 
filled  with  thousands  of  sick  or  wounded  soldiers  and  the 

1  Tr.  Coll.  Phys.,  Phila.,  1905,  117.    The  newspaper  extract,  from  the 
New  York  Times,  June  18, 1862,  reads: 

"A  TREAT  TO  THE  SICK  AND  WOUNDED 

"  The  sick  and  wounded  soldiers  at  the  Cliffburne  Hospital,  including 
those  from  Shields's  Division,  who  arrived  here  on  Monday,  were  this 
evening,  through  the  generosity  of  Mr.  Wm.  A.  Bayley,  of  New  York, 
treated  to  a  profuse  supply  of  strawberries  and  cream,  under  the  superin- 
tendence of  Surgeon  Billings,  of  Cincinnati.  This  hospital,  which  is  one  of 
the  largest,  is  made  one  of  the  most  comfortable  in  the  District.  Surgeon 
Billings  this  afternoon  performed  upon  one  of  the  Ohio  wounded  a  very 
delicate  and  dangerous  operation,  in  a  manner  which  elicited  the  commenda- 
tion of  all  who  witnessed  it.  Two  wards  of  the  Cliffburne  Hospital  are 
devoted  to  the  Rebel  wounded  brought  from  Williamsburg.  They  are, 
in  every  respect,  as  well  cared  for  as  our  own  gallant  volunteers." 

2  The  official  orders  for  these  assignments  are  dated  August  18, 1862,  and 
March  20,  1863.     It  is  improbable  that  he  left  Washington  before  Septem- 
ber, owing  to  pouring  in  of  the  wounded  from  the  Second  Bull  Run  and 
Chantilly  (August  29th-Sept.  1st). 


His  Civil  "War  Experiences  29 

duties  of  its  executive  officer  were  arduous.  Here  he  no 
doubt  acquired  that  ease  and  readiness  in  handling  official 
business  which  was  to  serve  him  in  such  good  stead  with 
the  Army  of  the  Potomac  in  1864  and  in  his  subsequent 
career  as  a  civil  administrator.  When  he  was  ordered  to 
the  field  with  the  Army  of  the  Potomac,  a  document  was 
drawn  up  by  the  staff  of  the  hospital,  begging  Dr.  Billings 
"to  accept  from  us  a  saddle  and  bridle  and  full  horse 
equipments,  which  we  hope  will  be  of  service  to  him  in  the 
field,  and  will  serve  to  remind  him  of  the  friendly  feelings 
of  his  former  associates." 

A  few  paragraphs  from  letters  to  Mrs.  Billings  while  she 
was  in  Washington  relate  to  this  period. 

November  30,  1862.  I  have  just  got  back  from  the  city, 
where  I  remained  all  night  with  Dr.  Hayes,1  have  disposed  of  a 
pile  of  papers  and  business  which  had  accumulated.  ...  I 
had  a  very  pleasant  time  at  the  club.  All  were  gentlemen  dis- 
tinguished in  science  and  everyone  did  all  he  could  to  make 
it  pleasant.  Supper  was  choice,  terrapin,  oysters,  croquets, 
salads,  etc.,  and  the  wine  was  dry  Verzernay  and  was  unique — 
not  to  be  bought  in  this  country  at  any  price  whatever.  .  .  . 
About  i  A.M.  Dr.  Hayes  and  myself  went  to  his  rooms,  lit 
cigars,  and  got  out  his  maps,  chart,  and  MSS.  and  talked  an 
hour  or  so  altogether.  I  think  I  learned  more  yesterday  than 
I  ever  did  before  on  one  day  in  my  life.  I  have  bought  the 
microscope  and  last  night  had  a  talk  with  the  two  best  micro- 
scopists  in  the  United  States,  Drs.  Leidy2  and  Lewis — and  they 
are  going  to  help  and  show  me. 

December  13,  1862.  I'm  up  again  you  see  and  downstairs 
at  my  desk.  I  had  a  pretty  hard  time  yesterday,  for  I  had  to 
lie  in  bed  all  day  and  all  night.  .  .  .  They  are  filling  up  the 
hospitals  with  patients  from  Washington — getting  ready  there 

1  Isaac  I.  Hayes,  United  States  Volunteers,  the  noted  Arctic  explorer. 
3  Joseph  Leidy,  the  famous  anatomist  and  naturalist,  then  a  contract 
surgeon  for  hospital  duty. 


30  JoKn  SHaw  Billings 

I  suppose  to  receive  the  wounded  from  Fredericksburg — we 
received  over  three  hundred  yesterday.  .  .  .  My  microscope 
is  resting  safe  in  its  case  and  only  waits  your  appearance  to 
glisten  most  bravely. 

On  March  31,  1863,  Dr.  Billings  reported  for  duty  to 
Surgeon  Jonathan  Letterman,1  Medical  Director  of  the 
Army  of  the  Potomac,  who  had  achieved  brilliant  repu- 
tation by  his  effective  work  in  the  reorganization  of  the 
Medical  Department  of  that  army,  including  its  ambu- 
lance and  supply  service.  At  this  time,  the  Army  of  the 
Potomac  was  lying  on  the  left  bank  of  the  Rappahannock 
River  (Stafford  County,  Virginia),  in  wide-spread  camps 
which  it  had  occupied  since  the  disastrous  battle  of 
Fredericksburg  in  the  preceding  December.  The  mass  of 
the  army  was  north  and  west  of  Falmouth,  a  village  di- 
rectly opposite  Fredericksburg.  Billings  was  immediately 
assigned  to  duty  with  the  nth  United  States  Infantry, 
a  part  of  the  Second  Brigade,  Second  Division  (Sykes's), 
Fifth  Corps  (Meade's).  General  Hooker  was  in  command 
of  the  Army  of  the  Potomac,  with  which  he  was  preparing 
to  cross  the  Rappahannock  above  the  mouth  of  the  Rapi- 
dan,  in  order  to  attack  Lee  on  the  opposite  side.  The 
Rappahannock  was  crossed  on  April  28th-29th,  the  Rapi- 
dan  on  the  3Oth,  and  on  May  2d~3d  the  battle  of  Chancel- 
lorsville  was  fought. 

1  Jonathan  Letterman  (1824-72),  of  Canonsburg,  Pennsylvania,  a  grad- 
uate of  Jefferson  Medical  College,  Philadelphia  (1849),  became  an  Assistant 
Surgeon,  United  States  Army,  January  29,  1849,  and,  after  making  a 
highly  creditable  record,  succeeded  Surgeon  Charles  Tripler  as  Medical 
Director  of  the  Army  of  the  Potomac  on  June  19,  1862.  He  was  relieved 
from  this  position  at  his  own  request  in  December,  1863,  and,  on  December 
22,  1864,  he  resigned  from  the  Army  to  go  into  private  practice.  While  it 
would  be  impossible  to  give  any  adequate  account  of  the  value  of  his  ser- 
vices here,  all  agree  that  the  splendid  organization  of  the  medical  service 
of  the  Army  of  the  Potomac  in  the  field  was  largely  due  to  him.  For  a  good 
account  of  his  work,  see  the  memoir  by  Lieut.-Colonel  B.  A.  Clements  in 
Jour.  Mil.  Service  Inst.,  Governor's  Island,  N.  Y.  H.,  1883,  iv.,  250-287. 


His  Civil  War  Experiences  31 

EXTRACTS  FROM  PRIVATE  LETTERS  (APRIL  I-MAY  8,  1863) 

[With  General  Hooker's  Army  on  the  North  Bank  of  the  Rappa- 

hannock.] 

April  i.  I  am  now  ensconced  in  Dr.  Ramsey's1  tent,  am 
patiently  awaiting  an  assignment  to  some  regiment ;  for  when 
I  got  over  here  I  found  a  regular  surgeon  with  the  4th,  and 
suppose  I  shall  be  ordered  to  the  I2th  but  am  not  sure  yet. 
Last  night  I  had  a  board  floor  and  a  bed-sack  full  of  hay  to 
sleep  on,  so  that  I  took  it  very  luxuriously.  Had  a  good  break- 
fast, after  that  took  a  ride  of  about  ten  miles2  and  here  I 
am.3  .  .  .  The  sun  is  shining  pleasantly  but  it  is  blowing  great 
guns  and  the  little  tent  rocks  as  if  it  was  going  to  turn  a 
somersault  before  long.  .  .  .  We  have  a  man  here  who  goes 
down  to  Washington  every  week  and  brings  up  all  sorts  of 
things  for  the  officers,  charging  them  10  per  cent,  commission, 
and  in  that  way  most  of  the  officers'  messes  here  are  kept 
pretty  well  supplied.  Of  course  on  the  march  they  have  to  fall 
back  on  hard  bread  and  bacon,  but  just  now  they  live  in  very 
good  style.  I  have  just  learned  that  furloughs  are  being 
granted  for  fifteen  days,  which  is  a  good  proof  that  we  shall  not 
advance  for  that  time. 

April  3.  I  have  not  yet  been  assigned  to  duty  and  am  still 
staying  with  Ramsey,  and  don't  feel  very  well,  having  caught 
a  very  bad  cold,  and  not  being  able  to  speak  above  a  whisper. 
My  horse  has  also  become  very  sick — out  of  sympathy  I 
suppose — and  cannot  eat  anything.  I  have  been  working  a 
little  with  the  microscope  and  find  that  it  answers  its  ends  very 
well — have  been  walking  about,  exploring  the  country,  and 
reading  some  novels  in  the  interim.  ...  I  went  out  last 
night  and  sat  on  the  edge  of  a  high  bluff  which  overlooks  the 

1  William  R.  Ramsey,  Medical  Officer,  United  States  Army,  1861-8. 

3  From  Aquia  Landing. 

3  This  division  was  probably  lying  a  mile  or  two  south  of  Potomac  Creek, 
which  here  runs  nearly  parallel  to  and  about  ten  miles  north  of  the  Rappa- 
hannock. 


32  JoKn  SHaw   Billings 

valley  of  Potomac  Creek,  the  moon  shone  coldly  down  from 
between  masses  of  black  clouds — not  a  house  or  fence  in  sight — 
nothing  but  silence  and  desolation.  The  country  looks  as  if 
the  shadow  of  the  wings  of  Azrael  were  resting  on  it — a  horrible 
dream  of  death.  I  received  a  letter  from  Mother  yesterday — 
she  has  not  heard  of  our  Hegira  and  talked  of  making  us  a 
visit. 

April  6.  I  have  been  down  with  bronchitis,  but  am  up  again 
this  morning  as  large  as  life.  Night  before  last  it  snowed  and 
blew  and  rained  and  froze  until  I  thought  the  whole  camp 
would  be  carried  away.  Ramsey  and  I  had  to  have  an  extra 
guy-rope  put  on  our  tent  to  keep  it  from  being  blown  away, 
and  I  lay  in  bed  and  grumbled  until  I  went  to  sleep.  I  have 
been  assigned  to  the  nth  Infantry  with  Ramsey  but  I  suppose 
he  will  be  ordered  away  before  long. 

April  7.  The  President  and  suite  reviewed  our  division  this 
afternoon  but  I  did  not  feel  well  enough  to  go  out  as  I  am  only 
just  getting  over  my  cold  and  had  a  very  severe  headache.  .  .  . 
I  am  going  to  ride  over  to  General  Hooker's  headquarters 
to-morrow,  if  it  is  pleasant  and  I  feel  well  enough.  ...  I  am 
still  tenting  with  Ramsey  and  am  attending  to  the  sick  of  the 
nth  Infantry,  but  it  does  not  take  me  much  over  an  hour  a  day 
and  the  rest  of  the  time  drags  rather  heavily.  My  microscope 
assists  me  somewhat  however  and  the  arrival  of  the  daily  New 
York  papers  forms  an  era  in  the  day.  We  have  a  great  deal  of 
music  about  here — as  you  may  well  suppose — every  regiment 
has  a  band  and  some  of  the  officers  play  on  violins,  guitars,  etc. 
Yesterday  an  interlude  occurred  by  a  man's  having  his  head 
shaved  and  being  drummed  out  of  camp.  I  could  not  help 
thinking  of  my  Philadelphia  experience  on  that  point. 

April  8.  The  whole  division  has  gone  off  about  3  miles  for 
a  grand  review  which  will  last  about  all  day  and  I  am  left  on 
the  sick  list.  I  have  just  heard  some  consoling  news  from  Dr. 
Helsby1 — he  says  he  was  here  one  whole  month  before  he  got  a 

1  Thomas  H.  Helsby,  Medical  Officer,  United  States  Army,  1861-5. 


His  Civil  War  Experiences  33 

letter  from  his  wife,  who  lives  in  Baltimore,  and  then  he  got 
14  at  once.  .  .  .  Richard  has  done  very  well  so  far, — he 
blacks  my  boots,  brushes  my  clothes,  takes  care  of  my  horse, 
did  some  washing  for  me  yesterday,  and  has  just  been  plaster- 
ing up  my  chimney  with  mud  to  keep  it  from  catching  on  fire — 
altogether  he  is  a  very  good  man  Friday.  It  will  cost  me  about 
sixty  or  seventy  dollars  a  month  to  live  here,  for  everything  is 
exactly  double  what  it  is  anywhere  else.  .  .  .  The  Commis- 
sary supplies  us  with  fresh  bread  four  times  a  week  and  there 
is  very  good  butter  at  the  sutler's,  so  that  we  are  faring  sump- 
tuously. .  .  .  Privacy  is  a  thing  that  is  never  heard  or 
dreamed  of  out  here — you  can't  keep  your  tent  curtain  shut  ten 
minutes  without  having  somebody  pop  their  head  in  and  nobody 
seems  willing  to  be  alone  any  longer  than  he  can  help.  So  you 
see  I  have  no  chance  to  indulge  in  one  of  my  sulky  fits  out  here 
and  perhaps  I  shall  get  cured  of  them  before  I  come  back. 

April  10.  I  rode  over  to  General  Hooker's  headquarters 
yesterday  and  saw  Dr.  McGill.1  I  caught  a  fresh  cold  and  was 
very  sick  last  night  but  feel  better  this  morning.  I  received 
an  order  last  night  putting  me  on  a  board  for  the  examination 
of  such  volunteer  surgeons  as  may  be  sent  before  the  board,  to 
see  whether  they  are  qualified  for  the  posts  they  hold.  It  will 
occupy  me  about  a  week  and  about  4  hours  a  day.  Ramsey 
and  I  get  along  very  well  together  and  I  consider  myself  quite 
fortunate.  ...  I  think  if  the  army  is  going  to  move  at  all 
that  it  will  do  so  about  the  2Oth  of  this  month,  but  I  should  not 
wonder  if  it  remained  inactive  until  the  fate  of  Charleston, 
Vicksburg  and  Rosecrans  is  decided.  The  weather  is  warm 
and  pleasant,  the  roads  are  very  good  and  altogether  it  feels 
very  comfortable.  My  horse  is  very  much  admired,  and 
Richard  began  to  make  himself  famous  yesterday  by  knocking 
a  man  down  who  was  twice  as  big  as  himself  because  he  tried 
to  take  away  some  of  my  forage. 

April  12.     I  have  just  finished  my  morning  sick  call  and 
having  a  few  moments  to  spare  before  going  out  on  a  review 
1  George  M.  McGill,  Medical  Officer,  United  States  Army,  1862-7. 


34  JoHn.  SHaw  Billings 

I  will  devote  them  to  you.  ...  I  was  on  the  examining  board 
all  day  yesterday  and  we  finished  two  poor  young  sawbones, 
rejecting  both.  One  of  them  gave  his  name  as  George  W.  B. 
and  when  I  asked  him  what  the  W.  stood  for  he  said  he  did  not 
know  exactly  but  thought  finally  that  it  might  be  Washington. 
Dr.  Craig1  the  Chief  Surgeon  of  the  Division  received  the 
acceptance  of  his  resignation  yesterday  and  presented  me  with 
his  sword  last  night,  one  which  he  has  carried  for  7  years.  It 
came  in  very  handy  to  me  as  I  had  left  mine  at  home.  By  his 
resignation,  Ramsey  is  again  Surgeon-in-Chief  of  the  Division. 
.  .  .  Review  is  over,  my  toggery  is  out  of  the  road,  dinner 
has  been  disposed  of  and  I  have  just  time  to  scribble  a  little 
before  the  mail  closes.  It  has  begun  to  rain — not  violently, 
but  a  warm,  genial  spring  rain — and  I  am  alone  in  my  glory. 
A  sentinel  is  pacing  up  and  down  in  front  of  my  tent  and  by  his 
side  a  man  carrying  a  thirty-pound  log  of  wood  which  he  is 
condemned  to  carry  every  alternate  two  hours  for  twenty- 
four  hours  as  a  punishment  for  some  offence  he  has  committed. 
My  horse  was  universally  praised  and  admired  this  morning 
and,  by  the  way,  he  is  called  Dick  by  everybody. 

April  13.  All  the  cavalry  passed  by  here  this  morning  on 
their  way  across  the  river,  also  some  artillery,  and  but  very 
few  days  can  elapse  now  before  something  happens.  I  have 
been  busy  all  day  in  getting  rid  of  my  lame  ducks,  discharging 
some  and  getting  others  off  to  General  Hospital  so  that  I  may 
have  as  few  to  commence  with  as  possible.  The  day  has  been 
pleasant  but  a  cold  mist  is  creeping  up  over  everything  to- 
night and  I  have  to  stay  indoors  pretty  closely.  ...  I  wish 
I  could  sit  down  to  a  West  Philadelphia  Hospital  dinner  again 
to-morrow — I  am  beginning  to  turn  away  from  my  food. 

April  15.  It  has  been  raining  heavily  all  the  morning  and  is 
now  pouring  like  a  second  Deluge.  ...  It  was  anticipated 
that  we  should  move  forth  in  battle  array  this  morning,  so 
last  night  all  the  officers  met  in  what  is  called  the  protracted 
meeting  of  the  night  before  battle.  I  went  over  and  certainly 

1  Robert  O.  Craig,  Medical  Officer,  United  States  Army,  1856-63. 


His  Civil  "War  Experiences  35 

it  was  a  scene  which  was  new  to  me.  In  a  tent  just  the  size  of 
ours  were  fourteen  officers  from  the  commander  of  the  regiment 
to  lieutenant,  brandy  circulating  freely  with  crackers,  sardines, 
pickles  and  Spanish  olives.  I  was  welcomed  with  a  shout  and 
the  company  then  proceeded  to  sing  the  Year  of  Jubilo  in  full 
chorus.  Then  came  comic  recitations,  stories  and  songs  of  all 
descriptions,  from  Annie  Laurie  to  the  Sentimental  Coon.  And 
so  it  went  until  the  small  hours  with  jest  and  song  and  wound 
up  with  the  battle  song  of  which  the  chorus  is : 

"Then  stand  to  your  glasses  steady, 
We  drink  to  our  comrades'  eyes, 
One  cup  to  the  dead  already 
And  Hurrah  for  the  next  who  dies. " 

But  it  was  all  sentiment  thrown  away  for  we  did  not  march  and 
shall  not  for  two  or  three  days.  Dr.  Clinton  Wagner1  took 
charge  of  the  Division  yesterday — a  very  pleasant  agreeable 
sort  of  fellow — and  Ramsey  is  now  back  on  duty  with  me.  I 
have  finished  my  labours  on  the  Board  of  Examination  and 
have  little  or  nothing  to  do  now  but  smoke  and  sleep.  Ramsey 
and  I  have  bought  an  old  pack  horse  and  we  propose  to  carry 
our  worldly  goods  thereon. 

April  17.  The  Dr.  (Ramsey)  and  myself  have  established  a 
mess  with  Major  Flo  yd- Jones2  who  is  now  commanding  the 
regiment — he  has  a  very  nice  little  mess  chest  and  I  think  we 
can  be  very  comfortable.  .  .  .  We  have  just  been  counting 
up  our  supply  of  provisions  for  the  march,  which  must  last 
eight  days — they  are  as  follows:  3^  Ibs.  dried  beef,  8  Ibs. 
boiled  ham,  6  Ibs.  soft  bread,  21  Ibs.  hard  crackers,  4  Ibs.  cheese, 
2  dried  tongues.  Do  you  think  that  will  last  us?  ...  I  have 
been  detailed  as  one  of  the  operators  of  this  Division  in  the 
coming  battle,  so  that  I  shall  be  at  least  1000  yards  in  the  rear. 

April  1 8.  I  have  just  returned  from  a  long  ride  down  to  the 
river  opposite  Fredericksburg  and  from  thence  up  the  river 

1  Clinton  Wagner,  Medical  Officer,  United  States  Army,  1860-69. 
3  De  Lancey  Floyd-Jones,  Officer,  United  States  Army,  1846-1902. 


36  JoKn  SHaw  Billings 

two  or  three  miles  and  then  across  country  to  my  den  again. 
I  took  a  very  good  look  at  the  Rebel  redoubts  and  entrench- 
ments— saw  the  Rebel  pickets  lying  on  the  grass  smoking  and 
chatting  and  was  within  easy  rifle  shot.  The  weather  was 
pleasant  and  my  horse  fairly  danced  with  glee.  This  morning 
this  Division  was  reviewed  by  Genl.  Meade  and  I  rode  on  the 
brigade  staff.  .  .  .  We  see  no  further  signs  of  a  move  but  it 
cannot  be  delayed  much  longer — the  roads  are  in  elegant 
condition,  as  hard  and  smooth  as  a  floor  and  everybody 
is  spoiling  to  do  something.  ...  I've  got  pretty  well 
acquainted  with  the  ways  and  means  of  living  down  here  and 
shall  soon  be  able  to  rough  it  with  the  best  of  them. 

April  19.  We  are  still  resting  peacefully  on  the  hillside  and 
it  is  Sunday  night  and  all's  well.  All  sorts  of  rumours  are 
flying  about — the  capture  of  Suffolk,  the  arrival  of  Lincoln, 
Stanton  and  Co.  for  purposes  of  consultation,  Hooker  having 
broken  his  leg,  his  having  gone  to  Washington,  etc.,  etc.,  all  of 
which  I  listen  to  placidly.  .  .  .  We  had  a  small  accident  to- 
night in  the  explosion  of  one  of  the  caissons  of  Weed's  Battery 
whereby  five  men  were  burned  and  bruised.  I  was  immediately 
put  in  charge  of  the  wounded  and  that  gave  me  something  to 
think  about  for  an  hour  or  so.  Dr.  Ramsey  went  down  to 
Aquia  Creek  to  send  some  sick  on  to  Washington  and  has  not 
yet  returned.  When  he  does  come  I  think  he  will  bring  some 
fresh  shad  which  will  be  as  welcome  to  us  as  the  flowers  in 
May.  .  .  .  You  would  be  amused  if  you  could  see  the  style  of 
my  washing  which  Richard  always  brings  back  the  day  he  gets 
it.  The  ironing  is  done  with  a  large  axe.  ...  I  have  con- 
siderable desire  to  try  some  surgical  operations  once  more  and 
see  whether  my  right  hand  has  forgotten  its  cunning.  I  don't 
think  I  shall  make  any  mistakes  however.  I  will  put  this  letter 
away  now  for  the  Philistines  are  upon  me. 

April  20.  A  whole  regiment  went  off  this  morning  on  picket 
duty  and  only  four  or  five  officers  and  a  few  men  are  left  to 
guard  the  camp.  I  have  been  ordered  to  go  to  Corps  Head- 
quarters this  morning  and  resume  my  place  on  the  Examining 


His  Civil  "W&r  Experiences  37 

Board.  It  is  about  one  mile  and  not  a  very  pleasant  ride.  .  .  . 
I  have  just  returned,  wet  and  cold,  when  [Nos.]  9  and  10  of 
your  letters  were  handed  me. 

April  22.     "Ah  fine  it  was  that  April  time,  when  summer 

winds  were  blowing, 
To  hunt  for  pale  arbutus  blooms  that  hide 

beneath  the  leaves, " 

and  so  I  send  you  some  arbutus  plucked  from  the  hills  of  the 
Old  Dominion  to  keep  you  from  forgetting.  The  regiment  is 
all  out  on  picket  and  the  camp  is  silent  and  solitary.  Ramsey 
is  busy  over  quartermaster  papers  and  I  am  smoking  my  pet 
pipe  in  great  dignity  and  comfort.  Yesterday  I  took  a  ride  of 
about  five  miles  through  mud  and  brush,  going  down  to  the 
Corps  Hospital.  There  is  no  news  of  any  kind  except  a 
rumour  that  J.  C.  Fremont  is  to  supersede  Hooker.  .  .  . 
Everything  is  so  dead  and  stifling.  The  principal  events  are 
breakfast  and  dinner,  as  we  live  in  fashionable  style  and  have 
but  two  meals  a  day.  .  .  .  Looking  out  of  a  slit  in  the  back  of 
the  tent  which  answers  the  purpose  of  a  window,  I  see  two 
balloons  up,  one  over  Hooker's  headquarters.  I  should  like  to 
make  an  ascent  in  one  of  them,  although  practically  they  are 
esteemed  of  but  little  use.  ...  I  am  going  out  now  for  a  ride 
to  the  picket  line  with  Ramsey  and  Wagner. 

April  23.  Last  night  I  posted  off  an  answer  to  your  No.  1 1 
and  after  that  it  began  to  rain  in  torrents  and  kept  it  up  until 
twelve  M.  to-day,  so  that  everything  is  afloat  again  and  there 
is  no  chance  of  a  move  for  three  or  four  days.  .  .  .  The  men 
have  just  come  in  and  a  more  miserable  bedraggled  set  you 
never  saw.  .  .  .  When  it  is  pleasant  weather  I  can  get  along 
very  well  by  taking  a  long  ride  or  walk,  but  these  rainy  days 
bring  tedious  hours  sometimes. 

April  24.  Windy,  cold  and  blustering  this  morning — very 
good  weather  for  drying  up  the  roads.  Ramsey  is  snoozing 
peacefully  under  his  buffalo  robe — while  I  with  my  pet  pipe 
am  waiting  for  breakfast.  The  officers  of  the  Eleventh  made  a 


38  JoKn  SKa-w  Billings 

gigantic  bucket  of  hot  punch  last  night  to  keep  the  cold  and 
wet  from  striking  in  as  they  said,  and  I  drank  too  much, 
consequently  feel  like  a  boiled  owl  this  morning.  ...  I 
suppose  we  shall  go  in  two  days  more  if  it  does  not  rain  again. 

April  25.  Last  night  I  went  over  to  Hooker's  headquarters 
with  Ramsey.  When  we  started  to  come  back  the  moon  was 
shining  brightly  and  we  thought  we  were  going  to  have  a  very 
pleasant  ride,  but  before  we  had  got  half  a  mile  it  was  as  dark 
as  Erebus  and  raining  furiously.  We  let  our  horses  take  their 
own  way  and  they  brought  us  out  safely  at  last.  To-day  I  took 
another  ride  of  eight  miles  and  feel  as  stupid  as  possible.  .  .  . 
As  to  the  movements  of  the  Army,  they  are  out  of  the  reach  of 
prophecy. 

April  26.  The  day  is  sunny  and  pleasant  but  rather  windy, 
and  being  Sunday,  the  usual  inspections  and  reviews  are  going 
on.  I  hear  Richard  growling  outside,  because  somebody  has 
stolen  Dick's  forage,  and  the  tramp,  tramp  of  the  men  as  they 
are  filing  by  for  inspection.  .  .  .  Every  corps  in  the  Army 
has  its  peculiar  badge,  some  a  star,  another  a  crescent,  etc., 
ours  is  a  Maltese  cross  and  every  officer  and  soldier  has  to  wear 
one.  I  had  a  very  pretty  plain  silver  cross  presented  to  me 
last  night  by  Dr.  Hichborn,1  which  I  fastened  to  my  hat.  .  .  . 
The  newspapers  have  been  very  jubilant  in  tone  lately,  and  I 
am  glad  to  see  that  the  spring  campaign  is  opening  so  pros- 
perously. I  think  our  military  wiseacres  are  a  little  puzzled 
however  as  to  what  they  had  better  do  with  the  Army  of  the 
Potomac.  At  least  I  see  no  other  reason  for  the  delay.  My 
only  prayer  just  now  is  that  this  pleasant  weather  may  con- 
tinue. .  .  .  We  are  losing  men  very  fast  now  from  the  Army, 
by  the  mustering  out  of  the  9  months'  and  2  years'  regiments, 
and  by  another  month  I  suppose  the  20,000  men  will  have  gone 
home.  Our  pioneers  are  out  to-day  building  bridges  on  the 
roads  leading  to  the  Upper  Fords  but  everything  else  seems  to 
be  asleep — not  even  dreaming.  Nobody  about  here  gives  any 

1  Alexander  Hichborn,  Acting  Assistant  Surgeon,  United  States  Army, 
killed  at  Chancellorsville,  May  3,  1863. 


His  Civil  ^War  Experiences  39 

opinion  of  any  kind  upon  the  past  or  the  future  of  the  war,  and 
that  is  what  I  like.  I  believe  in  officers  and  men  doing  precisely 
what  they  are  told  to  do  without  asking  any  questions  or 
making  any  comments.  It  is  very  easy  to  criticize  past  mis- 
takes, very  hard  to  foresee  future  difficulties.  Any  man  who  is 
so  carried  away  as  to  be  able  to  see  no  good  whatever  in  any 
particular  party  is  in  my  opinion  a  fool,  and  any  man  who 
thinks  that  two  years  hence  his  judgment  of  men  and  deeds 
will  be  the  same  is  an  ass.  .  .  .  I  myself  believe  in  the  thought 
of  Hume,  as  expressed  by  Carlyle,  that  the  world  is  merely  a 
great  fair  with  the  booths  and  puppet  shows  of  which  it  is  not 
worth  while  to  quarrel,  for  we  shall  be  done  with  them  soon.  I 
hope  that  in  the  great  Hereafter  there  will  be  no  Congressmen 
nor  men  who  are  bought  with  a  price,  but  I  don't  know.  I 
think  it  would  be  very  hard  to  make  thoroughbred  gentlemen 
out  of  them  without  changing  their  personalities,  but  I  must 
not  limit  Omnipotence  of  course. 

[April  28-29.    Crossing  the  Rappahannock.] 

Near  Hartwood  Church,  Va. 

April  28.  I  am  writing  this  seated  on  the  ground  by  the 
bivouac  fire  with  my  haversack  on  my  knees  for  a  desk  and  can 
write  but  little,  for  my  only  chance  to  send  letters  now  is  by 
officers  going  to  the  railroad  and  one  is  going  in  half  an  hour. 
We  broke  camp  and  moved  yesterday  about  10  A.M.,  marching 
8  miles,  and  are  now  near  Hartwood  Church  on  the  Warrenton 
road.  The  Eleventh  and  Twelfth  Corps  have  been  filing  past 
us  all  the  morning — as  soon  as  they  are  out  of  the  road  we  shall 
move  again  but  where  I  do  not  know.  We  have  no  wagons  or 
ambulances  with  us  and  have  to  carry  our  own  food  and  our 
horses'  for  five  days  with  our  bedding,  etc.,  which  makes  a 
pretty  heavy  load.  ...  I  feel  very  well  and  like  the  march 
better  than  the  camp,  but  it  is  going  to  rain  hard  in  two  or 
three  hours  and  that  will  not  be  so  pleasant. 

April  30.  Somewhere  in  Virginia.  I  begin  to  scrawl  to  you 
now,  although  I  don't  know  when  I  shall  finish  it  or  when  I 
shall  have  a  chance  to  send  it.  I  am  sitting  at  the  foot  of  a  big 


4O  JoHn.  SHaw  Billings 

tree  resting  till  the  pioneers  can  make  a  fire  and  get  us  some 
supper.  We  are  near  Chancellors ville — about  12  miles  from 
Fredericksburg.  I  rode  back  from  Tuesday's  camp  and  met 
Ramsey  and  then  we  made  a  double  quick  march  and  caught 
up  with  the  Regiment  just  at  dark.  I  rode  38  miles  that  day  and 
was  very  tired.  We  crossed  the  Rappahannock  at  Kelly's 
Ford  and  then  made  a  forced  march  across  the  Rapidan,  which 
we  crossed  at  10  P.M.,  the  water  being  waist  deep.  On  this 
march  we  had  to  send  back  all  extra  horses — and  Richard 
with  the  pack-horse.  So  I  have  had  nothing  to  eat  since  yester- 
day morning  except  two  hard  crackers  and  one  slice  of  bread. 
Dick  has  had  nothing  to  eat  for  the  same  time.  Richard  has 
just  come  with  the  pack-horse  and  we  shall  have  something  to 
eat  before  long.  I  have  sent  two  men  off  with  orders  to  steal 
some  forage  and  not  show  their  faces  until  they  found  it,  so  we 
shall  be  all  right.  Last  night  our  Regiment  bivouacked  in  the 
mud  on  the  banks  of  the  Rapidan.  We  had  no  tents  or  blan- 
kets and  it  rained  in  a  jolly  manner.  I  am  telling  you  the 
exact  truth  when  I  say  that  this  morning  I  poured  a  quart  of 
water  out  of  each  boot.  To-day  we  have  marched  about 
fifteen  miles,  captured  about  100  prisoners,  had  a  small  skir- 
mish, and  are  now  resting  in  anticipation  of  a  good  solid  fight 
to-morrow.  Crossing  the  Rapidan  was  the  most  ridiculous 
sight  I  ever  saw.  Fancy  30,000  men  stripped  to  the  waist  and 
wading  about  in  a  misty  moonlight.  I  feel  very  well,  only  a 
little  tired  and  to-night's  sleep  will  set  that  all  right.  I  got 
my  instruments  out  of  the  box  that  Ramsey  brought.  The 
rest  I  am  afraid  is  gone  for  I  had  to  put  it  into  a  wagon  and  the 
Lord  only  knows  where  that  is.  When  I  get  another  chance 
I  will  write  some  more  and  send  this  off,  but  I  don't  know  when 
it  will  be. 

[May  1-3.    Battle  of  Chancellor sville.} 

May  2.  Yesterday  morning  we  marched  out  from  Chancel- 
lorsville  and  met  the  Rebs  in  about  two  miles.  The  fight  was 
pretty  sharp  for  an  hour  or  two,  when  we  fell  back,  having  lost 
about  100  men  and  three  officers  out  of  the  Division.  The 


His  Civil  \Var  Experiences  41 

shell  fell  pretty  thick  around  me  at  first  but  that  soon  stopped 
and  I  went  to  operating.  When  we  fell  back  I  narrowly  es- 
caped being  captured,  but  got  back  to  a  large  brick  house  at 
the  cross-roads  which  had  formerly  been  a  hotel  and  then 
occupied  by  Hooker's  headquarters.  There  the  Hospital  was 
established  and  I  operated  until  late  in  the  night.  This 
morning  we  have  fallen  back  one  mile  further  and  are  now 
lying  on  the  road  to  United  States  Ford,  about  three  miles 
from  the  river,  behind  a  breastwork  of  trees  and  expecting  an 
attack  any  moment.  They  are  now  firing  heavily  on  our  right, 
I  hope  it  will  come  out  all  right. 

Long  afterwards  Dr.  Billings  described  his  experiences 
at  this  battle  as  follows : 

At  the  battle  of  Chancellorsville  there  was  a  good  deal  of 
joking  among  some  of  our  line  officers  about  the  doctors  not 
getting  up  to  the  front,  that  they  kept  in  a  comfortable  place 
about  a  mile  back,  etc.  This  was  mostly  chaff,  but  there  was 
a  little  bit  of  earnest  in  it;  so  I  said  I  would  go  up  and  see. 
The  regiment  came  under  fire,  and  was  then  less  than  200 
yards  from  the  Confederates,  and  I  was,  perhaps,  40  yards 
behind  the  firing  line.  I  stopped  behind  a  little  frame  house, 
giving  notice  to  bring  the  wounded  there.  I  soon  found  that 
the  wounded  who  could  walk  would  not  stop  where  I  was — it 
was  entirely  too  close.  At  first  the  men  that  were  more  severely 
hit  were  brought  back  by  members  of  the  band,  but  very  soon 
there  were  no  more  bandmen,  and  they  never  came  back  for 
a  second  load.  When  the  men  began  to  bring  their  wounded 
fellow  soldiers  in  they  would  not  stop  where  I  was.  Finally 
a  shell  went  through  this  wooden  shanty,  making  a  deuce  of  a 
clatter,  and  that  settled  the  question  of  the  men  stopping. 
The  slightly  wounded  men  would  not  stop,  and  the  bearers  of 
the  badly  wounded  men  would  not  stop,  so  I  moved  back 
about  200  yards  and  began  to  work  there,  but  soon  got  an 
order  from  the  medical  director  saying  that  I  was  still  too 
close,  and  must  go  back  to  the  Chancellor  House  about  a  mile 
away  and  establish  my  hospital  there.  The  next  morning  the 


42  JoHn  SHaw  Billing's 

Chancellor  House  came  under  artillery  fire  and  I  had  to  move 
again.  Fortunately  I  was  able  to  get  all  the  wounded  out  of 
the  house  and  to  move  them  back  another  mile  or  so  into  a 
little  hollow  without  losing  any  of  them.  But  one  of  my 
assistants  was  killed. 

My  experience  in  Chancellorsville  was  that  of  handling 
wounded  without  an  ambulance  corps,  and  getting  them  off 
when  the  troops  were  falling  back.  It  is  one  thing  to  provide 
for  wounded  when  the  troops  are  advancing  and  leaving  the 
hospital  behind,  and  quite  another  thing  to  fall  back  with 
your  wounded  when  the  troops  are  retreating.  x 

LETTERS  TO  MRS.  BILLINGS 

May  4,  8  A.M.  I  am  sitting  on  a  stretcher  in  a  little  hollow 
about  500  yards  behind  our  lines,  a  position  which  we  selected 
yesterday  morning  for  a  Division  Hospital.  Night  before  last 
we  marched  and  fought  nearly  all  night  and  the  battle  was 
pretty  sharp  yesterday  until  4  P.M.  I  operated  all  day  yester- 
day and  expect  to  do  the  same  to-day.  Last  night  Richard 
confiscated  a  bag  of  oats  and  a  box  of  hard  bread  and  I  got 
some  blankets  so  that  I  was  quite  comfortable  and  feel  very 
well  to-day.  Shell  fell  all  around  us  but  none  lit  in  the  hollow 
and  I  hope  none  will.  The  Hospital  I  was  in  before  has  been 
shelled  and  burnt  to  the  ground.  I  suppose  to-day  will  be  the 
hardest  fight  of  all,  if  it  be  true  that  the  Sixth  Corps  is  coming 
up  from  Fredericksburg.  .  .  .  None  of  our  friends  have  been 
hurt  yet. 

May  4,  I  P.M.  No  fight  yet  but  we  are  expecting  something 
pretty  warm.  .  .  .  We  have  not  succeeded  yet  and  are  in 
rather  a  tight  place. 


5,  5  P.M.  Second  Division  Hospital  near  United 
States  Ford.  A  heavy  thunder-storm  has  just  passed  over  us 
and  has  very  nearly  washed  us  off  the  little  side  hill  on  which 
we  are  camped.  I  am  now  surgeon  in  charge  of  the  Hospital 

1  Tr.  CM.  Phys.,  Phila.,  1905,  p.  118. 


His  Civil  "War  Experiences  43 

and  it  keeps  me  pretty  busy.  There  has  been  but  little  fighting 
to-day  and  the  impression  seems  to  be  that  we  shall  fall  back 
to-morrow  but  I  put  no  faith  in  rumours.  However  I  have 
made  all  arrangements,  have  sent  all  my  wounded  over  the 
river  and  have  got  all  the  stores  out  of  the  way  that  I  could. 
The  lines  at  present  run  about  600  yards  from  the  Hospital. 
If  there  is  a  retreat,  our  Corps  will  cover  the  rear  and  I  shall 
remain  until  my  Division  goes  by.  I  suppose  you  have  been 
very  anxious  and  uneasy  for  the  last  three  or  four  days  but 
you  may  rest  perfectly  contented,  for  I  am  sure  to  come  out  all 
right.  .  .  .  Dick  stands  at  my  shoulder,  saddled  and  bridled, 
and  my  cook  has  just  come  to  ask  me — Where  would  the  doctor 
have  his  supper?  Dr.  Hichborn  has  been  taken  prisoner — he 
was  captured  at  my  2nd  Hospital — a  large  brick  house  which 
was  shelled  and  burnt  by  the  Rebs  and  from  which  I  was 
fortunately  absent. 

May  7.  Here  we  are  again — just  where  we  started  from — 
and  I  am  seated  at  my  old  table  to  tell  you  about  it.  At  4 
o'clock  yesterday  morning  we  started  on  the  retreat,  our  Corps 
and  Division  being  last  and  the  whole  Army  was  across  the 
river  at  United  States  Ford  by  10  A.M.  No  accidents  occurred 
and  there  was  no  fighting  except  some  shell  firing  at  Banks' 
Ford.  We  left  all  our  medical  stores  with  Dr.  Bacon1  and  a 
steward  behind  in  the  Hospital  and  I  suppose  they  are  all 
grabbed  by  this  time.  What  we  are  to  do  next  is  hard  to  say. 
The  roads  are  in  very  bad  condition — it  having  rained  for  two 
days  and  is  still  at  it,  the  river  is  much  swollen — one  of  our 
three  pontoon  bridges  having  broken  away — the  men  are  wet, 
tired — and  many  of  them  have  lost  their  knapsacks  and 
clothing — and  the  officers  are  gloomy  and  dispirited.  My  own 
health  is  very  good,  although  I  had  to  sleep  in  a  wet  blanket 
all  night  and  was  thoroughly  chilled  when  I  awoke.  I  hope 
the  Purveyor  will  be  down  to-morrow  with  something  for  us 
to  eat  for  I  don't  like  hard  bread  more  than  a  week  at  a  time 
and  it  is  now  10  days  since  I  have  had  anything  to  eat  that 
was  decent.  P  hear  however  that  we  are  to  move  somewhere 

1  Cyrus  Bacon,  Medical  Officer,  United  States  Army,  1862-81. 


44  JoHn  SHa-w  Billing's 

to-night — but  it  is  a  mere  rumour — at  all  events  we  can't  go 
very  far. 

May  8.  You  will  have  read  of  course  that  we  retreated — 
the  Eleventh  Corps,  formerly  Sigel's,  was  entirely  routed  and 
skedaddled  in  a  most  disgraceful  manner,  and  has  not  rallied 
yet.  We  lost  altogether  between  ten  and  fifteen  thousand  men, 
and  our  cavalry  is  still  in  danger,  being  not  yet  across  the 
river.  We  are  all  packed  and  under  marching  orders  but  I  do 
not  think  it  possible  for  us  to  move  for  two  weeks  with  any 
sort  of  efficiency.  ...  I  have  charge  of  the  sick  of  two  regi- 
ments now,  Dr.  Hichborn  not  having  yet  returned,  and  so 
have  a  little  more  to  do  than  usual.  I  have  not  had  a  chance 
to  see  a  newspaper  yet,  but  I  suppose  they  have  some  curious 
stories  in  them — none  of  which  you  need  believe.  I  like  fight- 
ing tolerably  well,  although  it  is  not  half  so  exciting  as  I  had 
supposed  it  would  be — marching  and  bivouacking  also  are  not 
so  very  disagreeable  when  the  weather  is  pleasant  and  the 
roads  tolerably  good  but  when  it  is  raining  steadily — mud  four 
inches  deep  everywhere — and  nothing  to  eat  for  yourself  or 
horse,  then  I  object  and  begin  to  feel  demoralized.  .  .  .  After 
all  a  big  battle  is  a  humbug — it  takes  10,000  bullets  to  kill  a 
man.  I  will  not  conceal  from  you  that  I  feel  disgusted  and 
that  I  am  utterly  hopeless  as  far  as  regards  taking  Richmond  or 
beating  Lee  with  our  present  troops  and  generals.  No  one 
here  expects  to  do  it — not  that  there  is  any  discontent  or 
demoralization — but  simply  that  if  a  battle  were  expected 
to-morrow,  we  should  calculate  on  a  retreat  as  a  matter  of 
course.  I  suppose  we  shall  have  a  new  General-in-Chief  here 
before  long  but  that  will  not  make  it  any  better  in  my  opinion. 
The  Rebs  are  better  and  braver  soldiers  than  the  men  of  this 
Army,  and  are  under  far  better  discipline. 

May  10,  1863.  We  expect  to  move  every  moment  now  and 
I  will  just  pencil  off  a  few  words  to  tell  you  that  we  are  pros- 
pering about  as  well  as  could  be  expected.  .  .  .  Our  great 
trouble  just  now  is  that  we  can  get  nothing  to  eat  except  hard 
bread  and  coffee,  and  none  of  us  have  any  money,  as  we  cannot 


His  Civil  "War  Experiences  45 

get  our  pay  rolls  cashed.  I  suppose  we  shall  move  to-morrow 
morning  although  it  is  impossible  to  say  with  certainty,  nor 
can  any  probable  conjecture  be  formed  as  to  which  way  we 
shall  go.  They  are  afraid  to  allow  any  New  York  papers  to 
come  down  to  the  Army,  so  that  I  am  entirely  in  the  dark  as 
regards  news  but  I  suppose  Hooker  is  condemned  all  round. 
It  is  a  hot,  sultry  day  and  we  are  all  keeping  as  quiet  as  possible, 
saving  ourselves  for  the  march  and  fight,  or  for  an  indefinite 
period  of  loafing  as  the  case  may  be. 

May  12.  We  are  still  quiet  in  camp  with  no  news  except 
that  of  the  death  of  Stonewall  Jackson.  I  have  had  a  bower 
of  evergreens  built  over  my  tent  to  keep  out  sun  and  dust  and 
have  made  arrangements  to  stay  here  a  month  at  least.  No- 
body knows  when  or  where  we  move,  so  that  I  might  as  well  be 
as  comfortable  as  not. 

TO   GENERAL   STEVENS 

May  12.  It  is  excessively  hot  and  sultry  and  our  camp  was 
moved  yesterday  to  the  middle  of  a  white  dusty  plain — not  a 
tree  or  blade  of  grass  being  within  half  a  mile — so  that  we  get 
full  benefit  of  the  glare.  Dysentery  has  made  its  appearance 
among  the  men  and  I  suppose  will  become  worse  as  the  heat 
increases.  You  have  read  all  about  our  little  fight  I  suppose 
so  I  will  not  enlarge  upon  that  subject.  As  to  the  present 
condition  of  the  Army,  it  is  very  good — not  much  confidence 
in  Gen'l  Hooker  but  then  there  never  was  much  of  that  in  this 
Division,  to  judge  from  what  I  have  seen  and  heard.  Every- 
thing is  perfectly  quiet  now — no  signs  of  a  move  anywhere 
that  I  know  of — the  nine  months'  and  two  years'  reg'ts  are 
dropping  out  every  day  and  taking  up  the  line  of  march  for 
home,  and  the  others  are  arranging  and  decorating  their  camps 
as  if  for  a  month's  stay  at  least.  .  .  .  Camp  life  introduces 
some  new  luxuries  to  a  man's  notice — for  example,  there  is 
most  exquisite  enjoyment  in  getting  your  sore,  hot,  swollen 
feet  into  cool  water  after  a  long  day's  ride,  and  no  nectar  was 
ever  enjoyed  more  than  a  cup  of  muddy  soldier's  coffee  after  a 


46  JoHn  SHa-w  Billings 

night's  sleep  in  wet  blankets.  When  you  succeed  in  getting 
your  boots  blacked  and  a  clean  paper  collar  on,  you  experience 
all  the  delight  felt  by  a  New  York  belle  with  a  new  ball  dress 
from  Stewart's,  and  any  newspaper  is  enjoyed  as  much  as  a 
costly  library.  Of  mental  enjoyment  there  is  little  or  none — 
altogether  the  life  is  beastly  to  the  last  degree — yet  by  no 
means  unpleasant  to  a  man  who  derives  his  pleasure  from 
physical  sources.  My  old  cadet,  Mr.  Curtis,1  writes  me  that  he 
has  received  a  position  in  the  Surgeon-General's  Office  and  that 
I  am  to  be  translated  to  the  same  Elysium  before  a  great  while. 

TO  MRS.  BILLINGS 

May  13.  The  sky  is  all  clouded  over  now  and  the  rain  is 
beginning  to  fall  gently  on  the  hot  and  dusty  ground,  the  air 
is  cool  and  everybody  feels  better  and  in  a  better  humour.  It 
is  about  5  P.M.  Most  of  the  officers  are  enjoying  their  dinners, 
or  their  pipes  if  they  have  dined.  Our  mess,  consisting  of 
Maj.  Jones,  Dr.  Ramsey  and  myself,  takes  three  meals  a  day 
and  our  supper  will  not  be  ready  for  an  hour.  .  .  .  Our  tent 
is  arranged  on  a  different  plan  from  that  which  I  sent  you — 
the  fly  of  the  tent  is  pitched  in  front  of  the  tent  and  under  it  is 
our  wash-stand  and  chairs — or  rather  boxes — for  we  have  no 
chairs  now — the  beds  are  on  opposite  sides  of  the  tent — feet 
toward  the  door  and  between  the  heads  of  the  beds  is  a  small 
stand  made  of  a  box  cover,  on  which  stand  the  little  micro- 
scope and  other  little  traps  and  notions.  Over  the  whole  tent 
and  fly  a  sort  of  bower  has  been  built  of  pine  boughs — alto- 
gether it  is  much  the  most  comfortable  arrangement  we  have 
had  yet.  My  right-hand  man  now  is  a  little  drummer  boy 
named  Hawley  who  keeps  me  in  as  good  order  as  he  can.  .  .  . 
I  think  I  shall  be  relieved  from  this  Reg't  before  long  and 
assigned  to  the  7th  but  I  know  nothing  certain  yet.  ...  I 
applied  for  48  hours'  leave  yesterday,  hoping  to  be  able  to  give 
you  a  surprise,  but  failed  in  obtaining  it — however  it  was  just 
as  I  expected. 

1  Edward  Curtis,  Medical  Cadet,  1862-3,  Medical  Officer,  United  States 
Army,  1864-71. 


His  Civil  War  Experiences  47 

May  14.  I  learn  that  Dr.  Hichborn1  was  killed  at  the  brick 
house  a  little  while  after  I  left  him.  Poor  fellow,  I  must  write 
a  letter  to  his  ladye — he  was  to  have  been  married  in  a  month. 

May  1 6.  I  have  been  relieved  from  duty  with  the  Eleventh 
and  sent  to  the  7th  to  fill  Dr.  Hichborn's  place.  .  .  .  The 
weather  has  been  exceedingly  pleasant  the  last  two  or  three 
days  and  I  have  been  feeling  very  well  physically,  better  than 
for  a  year  back.  I  have  been  riding  about,  playing  chess,  at 
which  I  can  beat  everybody,  reading  The  Old  Curiosity  Shop, 
etc.,  etc.  They  have  no  tent  or  sleeping-place  for  me  at  the 
7th  yet  so  I  am  still  staying  with  Ramsey,  and  very  likely 
shall  mess  here  even  after  I  move.  Our  mess  has  improved 
wonderfully  lately — hot  biscuits,  eggs,  roast  beef,  good  butter, 
mashed  potatoes,  tomatoes,  custard  pie  are  the  order  of  the 
day  now  and  I  believe  I  am  going  to  get  fat — how  will  you 
like  that?  We  are  not  crossing  the  river  again  and  I  see  very 
little  sign  that  we  shall  do  so — they  seem  to  be  inclined  to  make 
an  army  of  observation  out  of  us.  The  Officers  and  Doctors 
who  are  coming  from  the  other  side  of  the  river  say  that  Lee 
at  no  time  had  more  than  40,000  men  opposed  to  us. 

May  20.  The  days  still  drag  their  weary  monotonous  way 
along  as  usual — nothing  to  do  but  to  keep  out  of  the  sun  and 
no  news  of  any- kind.  I  am  fairly  settled  in  the  7th  now — 
have  a  tent  to  myself  and  am  going  it  alone  in  every  sense  of 
the  word,  except  that  I  still  mess  with  Ramsey  because  I  have 
no  mess  arrangements  of  my  own;  but  I  am  going  to  procure 
them  as  soon  as  possible.  ...  I  have  no  associates  at  all  now 
except  Lieut.  Curtis  of  this  Regiment  and  I  think  I  like  it  best 
so.  I  found  a  Harper's  Monthly  for  May  to-day,  which  is  the 
first  readable  thing  I  have  found  since  we  came  back  and  never 
was  that  miserable  magazine  more  thoroughly  enjoyed,  I  am 
certain.  I  think  we  shall  not  move  for  some  time  now  although 
what  good  we  can  do  by  staying  here  is  not  known  to  me.  The 
Western  Army  seems  to  be  the  active  one  for  the  coming 
summer. 

1  See  footnote,  April  26. 


48  JoKn  SHaw  Billings 

May  21.  I  have  just  received  an  order  relieving  me  from 
duty  with  the  7th  and  putting  me  in  charge  of  the  Corps  Hospi- 
tal, but  it  is  merely  temporary  in  all  probability.  My  leave 
went  through  all  right  but  is  of  course  stopped  now — I  shall 
get  it  some  time  next  week  probably  unless  something  new 
turns  up.  ...  I  make  this  a  short  note  as  I  am  in  a  hurry  to 
pack  up  and  be  off. 

May  28.  I  got  here  last  night  all  safe  with  boxes  and 
bundles,  found  Nell  waiting  at  the  Depot  with  Dick,  and  an 
ambulance  for  the  baggage — jumped  upon  Dick,  who  snorted 
and  jumped  and  galloped  off  in  great  exultation  and  got  here 
in  a  very  short  space  of  time.  Hardly  anybody  knew  me — 
with  my  whiskers  gone  and  a  straw  hat  on — and  I  was  intro- 
duced to  one  officer  before  he  could  recollect  me.  ...  I  now 
have  charge  of  the  yth  and  loth  Infantry  which  lie  together 
and  am  more  comfortably  situated  than  I  have  ever  been  yet. 
.  .  .  Our  cavalry  have  moved  out  again  toward  the  picket 
line — whether  they  will  pick  a  quarrel  for  us  to  go  up  and 
settle  or  not  I  don't  know. 

May  30.  I  have  just  returned  from  a  long,  hot  and  very 
dusty  ride  down  to  Aquia  Creek.  .  .  .  We  are  under  march- 
ing orders  again  but  no  one  seems  to  think  that  it  amounts  to 
anything — it  is  probably  precautionary  against  Lee's  trying 
to  cross  the  river. 

May  31.  A  storm  of  dust  has  been  blowing  all  day  and 
everything  is  covered  with  it — it  is  almost  impossible  to  go 
two  hundred  yards  in  any  direction  and  drill  or  inspection  is 
out  of  the  question.  I  have  taken  to  getting  up  early  and 
having  sick  call  before  breakfast  now,  for  it  gets  too  hot  by 
8  o'clock  now  to  be  comfortable. 

June  2.  The  wail  of  a  funeral  march  comes  to  my  ears  this 
sunny  June  morning — it  is  that  of  Lieut.  Smedberg1  of  the 
I4th  Infantry  who  died  after  12  hours'  illness.  Dr.  Whitting- 

1  Charles  G.  Smedberg,  Lieutenant  I4th  United  States  Infantry. 


His  Civil  \STar  Experiences  49 

ham1 — one  of  my  class — was  very  sick  last  night — had  con- 
gestion of  the  brain,  but  is  better  now.  ...  I  am  messing 
now  with  Dr.  Helsby  and  others  of  the  6th  Infantry  and  like 
it  very  well.  Our  marching  orders  are  discontinued  so  that  we 
are  lounging  about  again  as  usual.  ...  I  am  detailed  to  go 
out  on  picket  to-morrow  morning  to  be  absent  three  days,  so 
that  you  must  be  content  to  wait  for  a  letter  until  I  get  back. 

On  June  3,  1863,  Lee's  Army  began  its  northward  move- 
ment toward  Maryland  and  Pennsylvania,  crossing  the 
Potomac  on  the  24th  and  approaching  Chambersburg  on 
the  27th.  Hooker  crossed  at  Edwards's  Ferry  shortly 
after  (June  26th-2yth)  and,  being  out  of  accord  with  Hal- 
leek,  he  was  relieved  at  his  own  request  on  June  27th,  and 
was  succeeded  by  General  Meade. 

About  the  middle  of  June  [says  Dr.  Billings],  the  26.  Division 
of  the  Fifth  Corps  took  up  its  line  of  march,  which,  passing 
successively  through  Benson's  Mills,  Catlett's  Station,  Manas- 
sas,  Centreville,  Gum  Spring,  Aldie  Gap,  Leesburg,  Edwards's 
Ferry,  and  Frederick,  terminated,  so  far  as  I  was  concerned, 
at  Gettysburg,  Pennsylvania,  on  the  morning  of  the  2d  of 
July. 

We  may  follow  his  life  in  the  field  up  to  the  battle  of 
Gettysburg  in  his  letters  to  his  wife. 

June  4.  Last  night  I  went  to  bed  in  a  quiet,  peaceable  way 
about  ii  o'clock,  and  at  one  this  morning  I  was  roused  by 
Capt.  Martin,2  who  walked  in  saying,  "Hello,  Medico — stir 
yourself — marching  orders  have  come  and  the  assembly  will 
sound  in  an  hour."  Up  I  scrambled  and  the  energy  and 
velocity  with  which  I  flew  about  when  I  got  fairly  awake  was 
prodigious.  I  packed  up  all  my  goods — also  the  hospital 
stores  and  medicine — struck  the  tents — packed  my  two  wagons, 

1  Edward  T.  Whittingham,  Medical  Officer,  United  States  Army,  1862-3. 

2  James  P.  Martin,  Officer,  United  States  Army,  1860-95. 


5O  JoKn  SHaw  Billings 

got  a  hot  breakfast,  got  food  for  two  days  packed  in  my  haver- 
sack, secured  an  ambulance  all  to  myself  by  a  little  diplomacy, 
and  when  the  assembly  sounded  I  was  seated  on  Dick  smoking 
a  cigar  and  placidly  contemplating  the  universal  rush  and 
confusion  around  me.  Fortunately  I  did  not  go  out  on  picket 
as  I  thought  I  should,  for  just  as  I  was  all  ready,  an  order  came 
relieving  me  and  ordering  me  on  duty  as  President  of  a  Board 
for  the  examination  of  sick  officers.  We  are  now  camped  near 
the  Rappahannock,  between  Banks'  Ford  and  United  States 
Ford  and  are  close  to  the  Rebs  who  are  in  pretty  strong  force 
I  hear.  The  whole  5th  Corps  is  up  here  and  holds  a  line  18 
miles  long,  nearly.  Whether  we  shall  stay  here  over  night  or 
not  is  unknown  to  the  subscriber,  but  I  have  fixed  myself  up 
in  the  most  comfortable  manner,  as  if  I  expected  to  spend  the 
remainder  of  my  natural  life  in  this  immediate  neighbourhood. 
My  tent  is  pitched  under  some  large  pine  trees,  my  bed  is 
made  of  pine  boughs  and  is  as  soft  and  springy  as  a  bed  can 
be.  A  big  box  of  medicines  serves  me  for  a  table,  my  books  are 
on  it,  my  slippers  on  my  feet,  and  altogether  I  am  as  jolly  as  a 
clam,  the  only  drawback  being  that  hard  bread  is  the  order  of 
the  day  and  eggs,  milk,  etc.,  have  become  mere  reminiscences. 
Like  Mark  Tapley,  Nell  has  come  out  strong  under  difficulties 
— he  has  hacked  and  hewed  and  shovelled  and  swept,  and 
displayed  universal  genius.  The  prevailing  idea  here  seems 
to  be  that  Gen.  Lee  is  going  to  walk  into  us  some  fine  morning 
and  cause  the  grandest  row  on  record,  but  the  latest  reports 
say  that  Hooker's  countenance  is  beaming  and  I  think  we  shall 
worry  through  the  summer  somehow. 

June  6.  Camp  near  Benson's  Mills,  Va.  Not  a  breath  of 
fresh  air  stirs  these  sultry  pine  forests,  but  then  dust  is  un- 
known and  that  is  some  consolation.  We  are  lying  here  under 
marching  and  fighting  orders  and  guarding  the  fords  of  the 
river  and  waiting,  Micawber  like,  for  something  to  turn  up. 
Yesterday  afternoon  there  was  heavy  firing  for  an  hour  on  our 
left,  but  everything  is  perfectly  quiet  to-day  and  there  are 
no  rumours  or  reports  of  any  kind.  I  walked  about  a  little 
since  I  came  here,  found  a  few  strawberries  and  a  great  many 


His  Civil  "War  Experiences  51 

wild  flowers — I  will  send  you  a  sample  of  the  last.  Also 
discovered  a  horribly  ugly  old  woman  who  offered  to  sell  a 
quart  of  milk  for  25  cents  and  6  eggs  for  half  a  dollar  so  that 
I  suppose  those  are  the  market  prices  in  this  section  of  the 
country.  ...  I  have  three  sick  men  to  attend  to  now,  requiring 
about  15  minutes  a  day — the  rest  of  the  time  I  smoke  and 
read  chemistry,  as  I  have  nothing  else  to  read.  I  feel  stronger 
and  healthier  now  than  I  have  for  a  long  time  and  if  we  have 
a  little  marching  and  fighting  to  do  so  that  I  can  have  some 
good  hard  work  for  a  week  or  so,  I  think  I  should  be  very 
nearly  perfect,  as  far  as  that  is  concerned.  Lizards  and  large 
black  spiders  abound  here,  and  there  are  a  few  rattlesnakes 
but  I  have  not  seen  any  of  the  latter  yet.  Notice  has  just 
been  handed  about  that  the  commissary  wagons  are  in  and 
that  ham,  coffee,  sugar,  potatoes,  and  hard  bread  are  obtain- 
able and  there  is  hurrying  to  and  fro  of  cooks  and  servants 
and  general  rejoicings  at  the  prospect  of  a  good  supper.  I 
suppose  that  we  shall  remain  here  for  some  time  to  come,  and 
have  had  a  bower  built  around  my  tent  and  all  the  necessary 
arrangements  made.  I  am  fast  learning  how  to  extract  a 
great  deal  of  comfort  out  of  very  little  material.  ...  I  should 
not  be  surprised  if  we  were  all  inside  the  defences  of  Washington 
next  month. 

June  7.  We  are  all  on  the  qui  vive  here  now  and  expect  to 
be  off  on  our  travels  every  hour.  We  know  that  part  of  our 
troops  hold  Fredericksburg,  and  we  have  been  packed  up  and 
all  ready  for  a  sudden  start  ever  since  last  night.  But  the 
Sunday  has  gone  by  peacefully  thus  far  and  the  shadows  of  the 
pine  trees  are  beginning  to  fall  a  long  way  to  the  East,  so  that 
I  suppose  we  shall  have  one  more  quiet  night  at  all  events. 
It  is  getting  to  be  quite  cold  here  in  the  mornings  and  evenings 
and  an  extra  blanket  felt  very  comfortable  last  night.  ...  I 
have  just  received  an  order  appointing  me  surgeon  in  charge 
and  chief  operator  for  the  Division  Hospital  in  the  event  of  a 
battle.  I  only  hope  that  my  assistants  \vill  have  better  luck 
this  time  than  they  did  last.  You  would  laugh  to  see  Nell 
making  his  preparations  for  the  coming  march.  He  has  my 


52  JoKn  SHaw  Billing's 

keys  and  packs  and  arranges  my  valises  to  suit  himself.  In 
one  of  my  haversacks  he  has  stowed  a  lot  of  crackers,  Bologna 
sausage,  a  cube  of  boiled  ham,  a  small  bag  of  coffee  and  sugar 
mixed,  and  two  boxes  of  sardines;  in  the  other  haversack  is 
my  comb,  brush,  etc.,  6  paper  collars,  one  pair  of  socks,  6  hand- 
kerchiefs, i  towel,  one  piece  of  soap,  30  cigars,  I  corkscrew,  I 
travelling  ink  stand,  knife,  fork,  and  spoon,  and  a  box  of 
matches.  My  blankets  are  strapped  behind  my  saddle,  some 
forage  in  front,  a  small  bag  of  smoking  tobacco  tied  on  one 
side  and  a  canteen  of  fresh  water  on  the  other,  my  case  of 
instruments  in  one  saddle  bag  and  a  bottle  of  whisky  in  the 
other.  Altogether  I  think  I  am  prepared  for  almost  any 
emergency. 

June  9.  The  big  scare  that  we  all  had  on  when  I  last  wrote 
has  in  some  degree  become  mitigated,  but  we  are  still  in 
expectation  of  something  remarkable  turning  up  before  long. 
I  rode  over  to  Genl.  Hooker's  headquarters  yesterday,  a 
distance  of  about  12  miles,  but  found  that  nobody  there  knew 
anything  with  certainty.  One  division  of  the  6th  Corps  is 
across  the  river  below  Fredericksburg1  but  they  have  effected 
nothing  as  yet,  and  it  is  not  clear  as  to  what  they  can  effect. 
There  was  some  firing  this  morning  on  our  right  so  that  I 
presume  another  division  is  across  above  but  that  is  about  all 
the  war  news  I  can  give  at  present.  .  .  .  We  captured  a  number 
of  guerillas  this  morning  and  they  have  just  passed  by  under 
escort.  I  think  we  must  certainly  march  before  long,  but 
cannot  tell  which  way  nor  for  what  purpose. 

June  10.  I  have  just  returned  from  a  24  miles  ride  down  to 
the  Corps  Hospital  to  examine  some  sick  officers.  ...  Of  war 
news  we  have  but  little — there  was  a  cavalry  fight2  across  the 
river  yesterday,  in  which  we  did  not  make  anything  except 
a  little  experience.  Everything  seems  to  be  quiet,  the  Rebel 
pickets  go  in  swimming  with  our  men  and  we  seem  to  be  in 
a  state  of  Quakerdom  for  the  present.  Long  may  it  wave. 

1  Presumably  in  reconnoissance  concerning  the  Confederate  right. 
3  The  all-day  cavalry  engagement  of  Beverly  Ford. 


His  Civil  War  Experiences  53 

June  12.  The  Army  got  a  big  scare  on  last  night — orders 
came  to  pack  up — the  sick  were  sent  off — all  surplus  baggage 
was  sent  to  the  rear,  and  at  4  o'clock  this  morning  we  expected 
to  be  across  the  river,  but  at  six  o'clock  I  woke  up  and  found 
my  canvas  walls  still  standing  and  all  quiet  on  the  Rappahan- 
nock.  We  may  move  in  an  hour,  to-day,  to-morrow,  or  next 
week — but  on  this  uninteresting  subject  I  will  not  discourse 
further.  ...  I  have  not  been  feeling  well  for  the  last  three  or 
four  days.  My  head  aches  all  the  time  and  I  cannot  sleep — 
when  it  comes  to  marching  and  having  something  to  do  I 
presume  I  shall  be  all  right  again.  ...  I  have  done  nothing  all 
day  but  lounge  on  the  bed  and  wish  I  was  in  Halifax  or  any 
where  else  except  in  the  Army  of  the  Potomac.  ...  A  pleasant 
breeze  is  blowing  through  the  pine  trees  this  evening,  and  I 
hear  the  tramp  of  feet  and  rattle  of  muskets  as  they  are  mount- 
ing guard  outside.  Active  preparations  for  supper  are  going 
on  at  the  bivouac  fire  at  the  foot  of  the  little  hill  on  the  crest 
of  which  my  tent  is  pitched.  Hurrah!  here  is  a  letter  from 
you  now — wait  till  I  read  it  and  see  what  it  is  about. 

June  15.  On  the  march,  Bristoe  Station,  Va.  Here  we 
are,  rushing  frantically  toward  Manassas  from  which  we  are 
distant  about  4  miles.  It  is  about  10  A.M.  and  hotter  than 
the  hinges  of — well — a  very  hot  place.  We  have  been  march- 
ing rapidly  since  5  A.M.  and  the  men  are  almost  dead  beat. 
We  marched  all  night  before  last  and  all  day  yesterday.  No 
fighting  yet  except  a  little  cavalry  skirmish.  2  P.M.  We 
are  now  at  Manassas  Junction,  one  battery  in  position,  and 
are  waiting  for  orders  which  will  come  thick  and  fast  now  for 
a  day  or  two.  I  have  just  had  a  piece  of  broiled  salt  pork  and 
two  hard  crackers  and  am  smoking  my  pipe  under  a  big  oak. 
Here  comes  the  order  to  move — good  bye,  Kitten.  6  P.M. 
We  are  now  lying  in  line  of  battle  one  mile  from  Manassas 
Junction,  and  are  going  to  stay  here  all  night.  I  do  not 
believe  that  any  battle  will  take  place  here  at  present,  but 
think  we  shall  fall  back  on  Centre ville  to-morrow.  The  nth 
Corps  is  there  to-night.  Nell  is  cooking  my  supper — a  luxuri- 
ous one  too — fresh  beef,  coffee,  crackers,  and  a  jar  of  pickles 


54  JoHn  SHa-w  Billings 

which  I  confiscated  this  evening.  I  send  this  off  by  a  dis- 
charged soldier  who  will  put  it  in  the  Washington  post  office 
on  the  1 7th.  ...  I  am  sleeping  in  a  big  clover  field  to-night. 

June  1 6.  It  is  now  noon  and  we  are  lying  in  line  of  battle 
on  the  ridge  overlooking  the  plains  of  Manassas.  Out  of  one 
end  of  my  little  shelter  tent  I  look  over  the  broad  valley  to 
the  blue  line  of  the  Bull  Run  Mountains,  and  Thoroughfare 
Gap  is  just  opposite.  .  .  .  We  have  all  sorts  of  rumours  afloat 
but  no  one  knows  anything  with  certainty — we  have  seen  no 
mails  or  papers  and  Lee  may  be  anywhere  between  Richmond 
and  New  York  for  all  I  know.  The  general  idea  is  that  we  are 
going  on  to  Centreville  to-night.  .  .  .  The  poor  Army  of  the 
Potomac  has  come  up  to  get  its  annual  thrashing,  I  suppose — 
also  to  get  a  new  general  commanding.  ...  I  should  like  to 
hear  the  flying  rumours  about  Washington  to-day. 

June  17.  Centreville,  7  A.M.  We  are  lying  on  the  grass 
here  waiting  for  the  wagons  to  get  out  of  the  way,  when  we 
shall  probably  make  tracks  for  Leesburg.  We  left  Manassas 
at  three  o'clock  this  morning  and  I  suppose  have  a  hard  day's 
work  before  us.  I  think  it  not  unlikely  that  we  shall  be  in 
Maryland  to-morrow  night.  Ramsey  is  asleep  on  the  grass 
at  my  side.  Dick  is  bursting  himself  with  clover — there  goes 
the  bugle — I  must  stop. 

Gum  Springs,  4  P.M.  We  have  halted  here  for  dinner  and 
rest  after  a  rapid  and  hot  march — two  of  my  men  dead  of 
sunstroke.  We  are  going  to  Goose  Creek  and  from  there  to 
Leesburg. 

6  P.M.  Artillery  firing  is  going  on  on  the  right  and  we  are 
ordered  to  be  ready  to  move  off  at  a  moment's  notice.  The 
men  have  all  had  a  bath  and  some  coffee. 

June  18,  12  M.  We  are  still  lying  here  and  all  is  quiet.  The 
heat  is  terrible.  I  am  stretched  in  an  ambulance,  just  in 
front  at  six  paces  distance  is  the  creek — on  the  opposite  bank 
are  6  large  sycamores  under  which  the  officers  are  lying  asleep 
or  smoking — two  of  them  are  fishing  for  frogs.  Nell  is  coiled 


His  Civil  "War  Experiences  55 

up  under  the  ambulance  and  Dick  is  fighting  the  flies.  We 
have  no  papers  or  mail  and  know  nothing  of  the  movements 
of  the  Rebs  or  of  our  own  Army  beyond  our  own  Corps.  They 
don't  seem  to  be  in  a  hurry  to  do  anything  with  us  at  all 
events.  I  hope  Genl.  Dix  or  Peck  will  make  a  move  now. 
I  think  Lee  will  be  driven  back  down  the  Shenandoah  Valley 
before  long,  but  it  will  soon  be  too  hot  for  active  campaigning 
and  we  don't  seem  to  get  any  nearer  Richmond. 

June  18.  Camp  at  Gum  Springs,  Va.  A  heavy  thunder- 
storm has  just  passed  over  and  it  is  still  raining,  making  the 
air  delightfully  cool  and  pleasant.  Frog  fishing  has  been  the 
order  of  the  day  and  Capt.  Clinton1  sits  on  the  bank  and  looks 
for  them  with  his  field-glass  while  the  others  catch  them.  I 
shall  describe  the  order  of  the  day's  march  for  you.  Reveille 
sounds  at  three  o'clock  in  the  morning — up  we  all  get  and  I 
take  a  good  wash  and  fill  my  pipe  and  smoke  peacefully.  By 
the  time  that  is  done,  Nell  brings  me  a  tin  cup  of  coffee,  two 
hard  crackers  and  a  piece  of  fried  ham.  Then  I  fill  another 
pipe  and  have  the  steward  call  up  the  sick  of  both  Regiments 
and  I  prescribe  for  them — giving  passes  for  the  ambulance  to 
those  whom  I  deem  unable  to  march.  By  the  time  this  is 
done  Nell  and  Shorty  have  struck  my  tent,  packed  up  my 
things  and  saddled  Dick,  who  has  been  all  this  time  eating 
his  breakfast.  Then  the  assembly  sounds  and  I  stroll  round 
smoking  and  sympathizing  with  the  miseries  of  my  fellow 
sinners.  By  the  way,  Shorty  is  a  character  I  have  not  intro- 
duced yet.  He  is  a  little  Jew  boy,  about  4  feet  high,  17  years 
old,  and  drinks,  chews,  smokes,  gambles,  lies,  steals,  and  alto- 
gether is  the  hardest  little  case  I  ever  saw,  but  he  is  faithful 
as  a  dog  to  me  and  never  goes  out  of  reach  of  the  sound  of 
my  voice  night  or  day.  On  the  march  he  is  always  at  my 
horse's  head  to  hold  him  if  I  have  to  get  off  to  see  a  sick  man. 
About  i  P.M.  we  halt  near  some  creek,  I  unsaddle  Dick  and  let 
him  go  into  the  grass,  my  cook  gets  a  cup  of  coffee  and  a  hard 
cracker,  and  I  smoke  a  pipe.  About  6  P.M.  we  halt  for  the 
night,  when  the  performance  is  the  same,  washing,  eating, 

1  William  Clinton,  Captain,  Tenth  United  States  Infantry. 


56  JoKn  SHaw  Billing's 

smoking,  lounging  on  the  grass,  and  sleeping.  Then  we  are 
kept  in  an  agreeable  state  of  chronic  excitement  by  all  sorts 
of  terrible  rumours  which,  with  the  officers'  comments  thereon, 
are  as  good  as  a  newspaper  and  just  as  reliable.  After  we 
have  toddled  round  a  week  or  two,  we  shall  go  into  camp  again 
and  then  there  will  be  a  big  mail,  something  to  eat,  and  a  good 
bed. 

June  20.  Aldie  Gap.  We  started  on  the  march  last  night 
at  5  P.M.  and  reached  this  Gap  in  the  Catoctin  Mountains 
at  9  P.M.  in  the  midst  of  a  driving  rain  which  has  continued  all 
night.  The  ground  was  mud  and  we  could  get  no  fire,  so  that 
I  was  cold  and  wet  all  night  and  have  nothing  but  hard  bread 
this  morning  which  I  cannot  eat — so  I  feel  pretty  miserable. 
But  the  first  thing  I  saw  on  turning  out  this  morning  was  a 
beautiful  little  rose  bud,  which  I  took  as  a  good  omen,  and  I 
will  send  it  to  you  as  a  memorial  of  my  miseries. 

June  21.  Camp  at  Aldie  Gap.  8  A.M.  A  foggy,  dirty, 
disagreeable  morning,  Kathie.  I  have  just  had  breakfast 
and  made  ready  for  the  march  upon  which  I  suppose  we  shall 
start  in  about  an  hour.  .  .  .  Yesterday  orders  came  to  reduce 
the  officers'  transportation  and  there  were  some  very  funny 
scenes  at  the  wagon  train  with  officers  selecting  what  they 
could  leave  and  what  retain.  I  threw  away  all  my  mess  furni- 
ture but  nothing  else.  We  appear  to  be  going  about  in  an 
uncertain  purposeless  sort  of  way,  and  I  don't  believe  Hooker 
knows  where  the  Rebels  are  nor  indeed  where  one  half  of  his 
own  troops  are. 

12  M.  Part  of  the  Division  has  gone  out  and  heavy  can- 
nonading is  going  on  in  the  front — this  brigade  is  lying  under 
arms  and  will  probably  leave  before  long.  The  sun  has  not 
shown  his  face  to-day  and  everybody  has  the  blues — as  for 
me,  I  have  been  asleep  about  all  the  forenoon.  4  P.M.  All 
is  quiet  here  but  the  firing  continues  across  the  mountains — 
it  does  not  amount  to  much  beyond  a  skirmish  between 
Barnes's  Division1  and  about  2,000  Rebs — none  of  our  Divi- 

*  First  Division,  Fifth  Corps. 


His  Civil  War  Experiences  57 

sion  are  in  it.  Over  here  they  are  eating,  drinking,  playing 
cards,  and  listening  to  the  band,  which  is  playing  selections 
from  Trovatore,  while  just  on  the  other  side  they  are  knocking 
each  other  to  pieces  regardless  of  expense.  Well,  as  Mrs. 
Gamp  says — sich  is  life,  vich  likewise  is  the  end  of  all  things 
earthly.  .  .  .  The  only  thing  I  have  to  read  is  that  little  thick 
chemistry  which  I  carry  in  my  saddle  bags  and  use  for  a  pillow 
at  night.  ...  I  can  safely  report  the  Army  to  be  all  right  and 
in  a  fair  way  to  perform  some  exploits  before  long,  but  you 
know  I  must  not  disclose  its  plans  and  purposes  prematurely 
as  the  reporters  say.  Sufficient  unto  the  day  is  the  evil  there- 
of is  a  proverb  I  never  fully  appreciated  until  I  came  into  the 
field — here  I  find  it  not  only  so  but  also. 

8  P.M.  We  have  good  news  to-night — we  have  driven  the 
enemy  some  6  miles  and  captured  two  guns. 

June  22.  A  beautiful  sunny  day.  .  .  .  No  news  this  morning, 
no  firing  to  be  heard,  no  orders  to  move.  All  quiet  in  fact. 

June  24.  Aldie  Gap  again.  We  are  still  under  our  shelter 
tents  just  as  we  were  dumped  down  three  days  ago — no  news, 
no  mail,  nothing  to  eat  but  ham,  hard  bread  and  coffee — but 
the  weather  is  pleasant,  wood,  water  and  grass  are  plentiful 
and  there  is  no  dust.  The  wicked  rebellion  still  flourishes 
and  J.  Hooker,  Esqr.,  is  reported  as  being  in  good  health  and 
spirits.  I  rode  out  through  the  gap  this  morning  into  Loudon 
Valley  to  Genl.  Pleasonton's  headquarters  where  I  found 
Dr.  McGill  who  is  medical  inspector  for  the  cavalry  corps. 
He  tells  me  that  brown  Guy  was  killed  by  a  shell  in  the  fight 
at  Beverly  Ford,  poor  old  fellow.  I  hope  Dick  will  have  better 
luck.  We  have  no  prospect  of  a  move  for  a  day  or  two,  the 
Rebs  show  no  disposition  to  attack,  and  J.  Hooker,  Esqr.,  is 
very  comfortable  where  he  is. 

June  25.  I  have  been  playing  sick  a  little  since  yesterday — 
a  slight  attack  of  fever  I  think,  just  enough  to  make  me  cross 
and  blue.  We  moved  camp  yesterday  about  100  yards  and 
organized  things  in  a  systematic  manner  again.  .  .  .  Lying  on 


58  JoHn.  SHaw  Billings 

the  ground  with  only  one  blanket  becomes  disagreeable  after 
a  week  or  so  and  I  find  it  utterly  impossible  to  eat  hard  bread 
now — I  prefer  shingle  or  oak  chips  for  a  change.  I  am  getting 
demoralized  and  very  much  disgusted  with  the  Army  of  the 
Potomac  in  every  way.  6  P.M.  It  is  now  raining  and  my  dis- 
gust is  increasing.  Nell  has  dug  a  ditch  around  my  little  shelter 
tent  to  keep  me  from  being  floated  off  and  I  have  wrapped 
myself  up  in  my  big  cavalry  coat  and  shall  meditate  on  the 
miseries  of  human  life  until  I  can  get  to  sleep.  Curtis1  has  just 
come  in  from  picket — the  triumphant  possessor  of  a  feather 
pillow  which  he  got  at  some  house  out  there — also  brought  4 
chickens — whereon  he  was  greeted  warmly  by  all  his  acquaint- 
ances. I  have  had  a  harder  time  on  this  march  than  I  did  at 
Chancellorsville.  I  hope  and  pray  that  a  general  engagement 
will  occur  before  long — I  think  I  had  rather  be  killed  at  once 
than  endure  this  a  month  longer. 

[Hooker  crosses  the  Potomac;  Advance  on  Gettysburg.     General 

Meade  succeeds  Hooker  as  Commander  of  the  Army 

of  the  Potomac.} 

June  27.  On  the  march.  We  are  halted  for  the  men  to  take 
off  their  shoes,  stockings  and  breeches  preparatory  to  wading 
the  Monocacy.  We  started  at  2  A.M.  yesterday  morning  and 
marched  all  day,  passing  through  Leesburg.  We  crossed 
the  Potomac  at  Edwards'  Ferry  and  camped  about  5  miles 
from  that  place.  10  A.M.  We  have  now  halted  at  the  base 
of  Sugar  Loaf  Mountain  in  the  woods  and  the  men  are  making 
some  coffee.  I  suppose  we  are  going  somewhere  near  Frede- 
rick. I  feel  somewhat  better  to-day  than  yesterday  although 
I  am  quite  weak  but  I  hope  we  shall  have  two  or  three  days' 
rest  now  for  I  don't  think  J.  Hooker  will  attack  immediately — 
if  he  does  he  will  surely  get  thrashed.  Nobody  here  seems  to 
think  that  Lee  contemplates  anything  more  than  a  grand  raid, 
and  do  not  believe  that  he  has  the  remotest  intention  of 
approaching  Washington  or  even  of  having  a  battle  if  he  can 
help  it. 

1  Edward  M.  Curtis,  Lieutenant,  Seventh  United  States  Infantry. 


His  Civil  \STar  Experiences  59 

Camp  near  Monocacy  Junction,  Md.  6  P.M.  Here  we  are 
in  the  woods  waiting  for  our  suppers — everybody  footsore 
and  weary  from  our  40  mile  march,  and  just  3  miles  from 
Frederick.  I  am  lying  on  my  back  with  my  head  in  the  hollow 
of  my  saddle.  Nell,  after  much  exertion  and  getting  very 
red  in  the  face,  has  got  my  big  boots  off  and  has  gone  off  to 
prepare  the  usual  cup  of  coffee.  Of  course  we  do  not  know 
where  Lee  is,  but  hear  that  the  Reb  scouts  are  at  South 
Mountain  about  10  miles  away.  There  is  no  prospect  of  any 
fight  for  three  or  four  days  at  least. 

June  28, 9  A.M.     No  news.     We  are  lying  quiet.    Good-bye. 

June  29.  Camp  near  Frederick  City,  Md.,  6  A.M.  I  have 
washed  and  sharpened  my  teeth  and  am  seated  on  a  big  log 
writing  on  a  piece  of  board  and  waiting  for  my  breakfast. 
Yesterday  evening  the  mail  for  three  weeks  came  in  and 
caused  universal  rejoicing.  I  got  9  letters  from  you,  one  from 
Emma,  and  one  from  Mother,  and  a  very  pleasant  time  I  had 
in  reading  them.  Yesterday  morning  I  rode  up  to  Frederick, 
where  I  learned  that  Hooker  has  been  relieved  and  Genl. 
Meade  put  in  his  place.  I  went  to  General  Headquarters 
and  to  Pleasonton's  headquarters  and  saw  an  immense  number 
of  officers — the  general  feeling  seems  to  be  utter  apathy  and 
indifference.  I  saw  no  man  with  a  smile  on  his  face  and 
heard  no  one  say  that  he  was  glad  of  Meade's  appointment, 
although  there  is  approval  of  Hooker's  removal. 

9  A.M.     Just  as  we  sat  down  to  breakfast  the  bugle  sounded 
the  General,  and  now  we  are  drawn  up  ready  to  march.     I  feel 
very  well  this  morning  and  am  ready  for  anything.     There 
will  probably  be  no  battle  for  a  long  time,  at  least  for  us  as  we 
are  in  the  rear  of  the  Army.  .  .  .   We  do  not  know  where  we 
are  going,  further  than  that  it  is  towards  Pennsylvania — 
our  troops  are  beyond  Boonsboro  and  we  are  closing  up  now. 
The  main  Reb  Army  must  be  40  miles  away,  if  not  60. 

10  A.M.     We  have  to  lie  here  for  three  hours  in  the  rain 
without  our  tents,  which  are  packed  on  the  mules,  waiting 
for  the  pontoon  train,  which  is  blocking  up  the  road,  to  get 


60  JoHn.  SHaw  Billings 

out  of  the  way.  .  .  .  Remember  me  to  Ingram,1  Curtis,  and 
Mitchell.  I  send  you  a  4-leaved  clover  which  came  from  the 
Monroe  house  of  Fairfax,  also  an  elder  blossom  from  Ball's 
Bluff.  Good-bye,  Kathie — be  good  and  cheerful  and  patient 
for  the  good  time  coming. 

This  was  the  last  letter  written  by  Dr.  Billings  to  his 
wife  before  the  battle  of  Gettysburg.  The  Fifth  Corps 
went  into  camp  at  Hanover,  Pa.,  on  the  afternoon  of 
July  ist,  where  the  news  of  the  battle  reached  them. 
The  Division  was  immediately  set  in  motion  and  marched 
into  position  at  Gettysburg  about  6  A.M.  on  July  2nd,  at 
first  acting  as  a  reserve  on  the  Union  right,  but  at  3:30 
P.M.  moved  to  the  left  of  the  Peach  Orchard  and  to  the 
right  of  Little  Round  Top,  supporting  Sickles's  position, 
which  was  furiously  assaulted  after  4  P.M.  by  Hood's 
Division.  The  part  which  Dr.  Billings  played  in  the 
battle  of  Gettysburg  may  be  best  described  in  the  language 
of  his  own  official  report : 

[July  1-3.     Battle  of  Gettysburg.] 

.  .  .  About  the  middle  of  June,  the  2d  Division  of  the 
Fifth  Corps  took  up  its  line  of  march,  which,  passing  succes- 
sively through  Benson's  Mills,  Catlett's  Station,  Manassas, 
Centreville,  Gum  Spring,  Aldie  Gap,  Leesburg,  Edwards's 
Ferry,  and  Frederick,  terminated,  so  far  as  I  was  concerned, 
at  Gettysburg,  Pennsylvania,  on  the  morning  of  the  2d  of 
July.  On  this  march,  all  the  ambulances  were  collected  into 
a  train,  which  followed  immediately  behind  the  Division,  and 
was  superintended  by  a  medical  officer  detailed  for  the  purpose. 
Transportation  was  allowed  in  the  proportion  of  one  wagon 
for  the  medical  supplies  of  two  regiments,  and  this  train 
of  wagons  followed  close  behind  the  ambulances.  For  the 
approaching  battle,  I  was  detailed  as  surgeon  in  charge  of  the 
field  hospital  of  the  Division,  and,  also,  as  one  of  the  operators, 

1  Alexander  Ingram,  Medical  Officer,  United  States  Army,  1861-5. 


His  Civil  \Var  Experiences  6l 

my  assistants  being  Assistant  Surgeons  Whittingham  and 
Breneman,1  U.  S.  A.  At  this  time,  I  was  attached  to  the  7th 
Infantry,  and  also  acted  as  medical  officer  for  the  loth  Infantry 
during  the  march.  On  the  ist  of  July,  about  four  o'clock 
P.M.,  the  Division  reached  Hanover,  distant  about  twelve  miles 
from  Gettysburg,  and  went  into  camp.  Just  as  the  tents 
were  fairly  pitched,  news  came  of  the  repulse  of  the  First 
Corps,  and  a  few  minutes  later,  we  were  on  the  road  to  Gettys- 
burg. About  six  A.M.,  July  2d,  the  Division  marched  into 
position,  and  formed  line  of  battle  on  the  right  of  the  somewhat 
horse-shoe  shaped  line  in  which  our  Army  was  drawn  up.  .  .  . 
About  half  past  three  o'clock  P.M.,  the  Division  was  brought 
into  action,  marching  down  a  little  road  to  the  right  of  the 
large  conical  hill  called  Round  Top,  which  was  on  the  extreme 
left  of  the  long  arm  of  our  horse-shoe  like  line  of  battle.  I 
accompanied  my  regiment  until  they  were  under  fire,  and  was 
then  ordered  to  repair  to  a  large  stone  house  and  barn,  near 
the  base  of  Round  Top,  and  there  establish  a  field  hospital. 
When  I  reached  the  place,  our  skirmishers  were  lying  behind 
the  stone  walls  around  the  house,  and  as  I  rode  up,  a  small 
body  of  Rebels  further  up  the  hill,  and  about  seventy-five  yards 
off,  saluted  me  with  a  volley.  They  were  captured  a  moment 
afterwards  by  a  regiment  which  had  passed  between  them  and 
their  own  line.  On  entering  the  house,  I  found  it  unoccupied 
and  bearing  evident  traces  of  the  hasty  desertion  of  its  inmates. 
A  good  fire  was  blazing  in  the  kitchen  stove,  a  large  quantity 
of  dough  was  mixed  up,  the  bake-pans  were  greased;  in  short, 
everything  was  ready  for  use.  I  immediately  set  my  atten- 
dants at  work  baking  bread  and  heating  large  boilers  of  water. 
In  five  minutes,  I  was  joined  by  the  other  medical  officers 
detailed  for  the  hospital.  The  ambulance  train  reported 
to  me  fifteen  minutes  later,  having  with  it  three  Autenrieth 
wagons,  and  by  the  time  the  operating  tables  were  set  up, 
and  materials  for  dressing  arranged,  the  wounded  began  to 
pour  in.  I  performed  a  large  number  of  operations  of  various 
kinds,  received  and  fed  seven  hundred  and  fifty  wounded, 

1  Edward  De  W.  Breneman,   Medical  Officer,  United    States    Army, 
1862-7. 


62  JoHn  SHaw  Billing's 

and  worked  all  that  night  without  cessation.  An  agent 
of  the  Sanitary  Commission  visited  me  in  the  evening,  and 
furnished  me  with  a  barrel  of  crackers,  a  few  lemons,  etc. 
Of  stimulants,  chloroform,  morphine,  and  materials  for  dress- 
ing, the  Autenrieth  wagons  furnished  an  ample  supply. 

On  July  3d,  at  seven  o'clock  A.M.,  I  was  ordered  by  Surgeon 
Milhau,1  medical  director  of  the  corps,  to  remove  the  hospital 
to  a  point  about  one  mile  to  the  rear.  This  was  done  as 
rapidly  as  possible.  A  few  shells  began  to  drop  in  as  the 
first  train  of  ambulances  moved  off,  and  by  eleven  o'clock  A.M. 
the  fire  on  that  point  was  quite  brisk.  Little  or  no  damage 
was  done,  however,  and  by  four  o'clock  P.M.,  all  the  wounded 
were  safely  removed.  The  new  site  was  a  grove  of  large  trees, 
entirely  free  from  underbrush,  on  the  banks  of  a  little  creek, 
about  half  a  mile  from  the  Baltimore  turnpike.  By  means 
of  shelter-tents,  india-rubber  blankets,  etc.,  shelter  was  ar- 
ranged for  all  the  worst  cases,  and  two  thousand  dry  rations, 
with  three  oxen,  were  sent  to  the  hospital  by  Doctor  Milhau 
in  the  course  of  the  afternoon.  All  of  this  day,  I  was  employed 
in  operating  and  in  dressing  the  more  urgent  cases.  The 
following  morning,  it  began  to  rain,  and  continued  to  do  so 
for  five  days  and  nights  with  very  little  cessation.  On  the 
morning  of  the  5th,  the  regimental  medical  supply  wagons 
came  up,  and  from  them  I  removed  all  the  hospital  tents  and 
tent  flies,  with  two  hospital  mess  chests.  On  this  day,  the 
Division  moved.  I  was  left  behind  in  charge  of  the  hospital, 
which  then  contained  about  eight  hundred  wounded.  Twenty 
men  were  detailed  from  the  division  to  act  as  assistants  about 
the  hospital.  I  was  also  given  two  ambulances  and  two  six- 
mule  wagons.  The  ambulance  train,  which  had  up  to  this 
time  been  engaged  in  collecting  the  wounded  of  the  Division 
from  the  various  corps  hospitals  to  which  some  of  them  had 
been  carried,  and  in  hauling  straw  for  bedding,  accompanied 
the  Division,  as  did  also  the  Autenrieth  wagons.  By  this  time, 
Assistant  Surgeon  Brinton2  had  reached  White  Church  with 
a  special  medical  supply  train,  and  from  him  I  procured  such 

1  John  J.  Milhau,  Medical  Officer,  United  States  Army,  1851-76. 
'  Jeremiah  B.  Brinton,  Medical  Officer,  United  States  Army,  1862-5. 


His  Civil  "War  Experiences  63 

supplies  as  were  most  needed.  The  greatest  want  which  I 
experienced  was  that  of  tools.  I  had  not  a  shovel  or  pick 
with  which  to  bury  the  dead  or  construct  sinks,  and  no  axes. 
I  was  compelled  to  send  out  a  foraging  party  to  the  farm 
houses,  who,  after  a  day's  labour,  succeeded  in  procuring  two 
shovels  and  an  axe.  Seventeen  hospital  tents  were  pitched, 
and  in  these  were  placed  all  the  most  severe  cases,  about 
seventy-five  in  number.  Under  the  tent  flies,  I  placed  one 
hundred  more  patients,  and  the  remainder  were  all  under 
shelter-tents,  and  were  arranged  by  regiments.  By  means 
of  the  wagons,  I  procured  abundance  of  clean  fresh  straw  from 
about  five  miles  distance,  and  commissary  stores  and  fresh 
beef  were  furnished  ad  libitum.  Assistant  Surgeons  Ramsey, 
Whittingham,1  Bacon,  and  Breneman,  U.  S.  A.,  and  two 
surgeons  of  volunteer  regiments,  whose  names  I  cannot  at 
this  moment  recall,  remained  with  me,  and  through  their 
energy  and  zeal  the  labour  of .  organizing  the  hospital  was 
quickly  completed.  Especial  praise  is  due  to  Doctors  Ramsey 
and  Whittingham,  whose  labours  were  unceasing,  and  from 
whom  I  received  many  valuable  suggestions.  Very  few  shell 
wounds  came  under  my  notice  at  this  battle,  and  none  from 
round  balls  or  buckshot.  Most  of  the  wounds  were  from  the 
conoidal  ball,  and  a  large  proportion  were  in  the  lower  extremi- 
ties. Of  three  exsections  of  the  shoulder  joint,  all  were 
successful  in  so  far  as  that  the  patients  recovered.  In  one 
case,  I  removed  four  and  a  half  inches  of  the  shaft.  No  cases 
of  tetanus  occurred  in  this  hospital.  Of  secondary  haemor- 
rhage there  were  thirteen  cases  up  to  the  22 d  of  July,  at  which 
time  I  left  the  hospital.  Three  of  these  cases  occurred  after 
amputation  of  the  thigh ;  in  two  the  haemorrhage  was  arrested 
by  pressure,  and,  in  the  third,  it  was  found  necessary  to  open 
the  flaps  and  secure  the  bleeding  vessel.  Three  cases  of 
haemorrhage  from  the  anterior  tibial  artery  occurred ;  two  were 
arrested  by  pressure,  and,  in  the  third,  amputation  was 
performed  with  a  good  result.  In  one  case,  the  internal 
maxillary  was  the  bleeding  vessel.  The  haemorrhage  in  this 
case  was  readily  controlled  by  pressure  and  persulphate  of 
1  Edward  T.  Whittingham,  Medical  Officer,  United  States  Army,  1862-3. 


64  JoHn  SHaw  Billings 

iron.  Assistant  Surgeon  Howard,1  U.  S.  A.,  left  in  the  hospital 
six  cases  of  gunshot  wounds  of  the  thorax,  all  of  which  he  had 
treated  by  hermetically  sealing  the  orifice  with  collodion. 
Four  of  these  men  died.  What  became  of  the  other  two,  I  do 
not  know.  In  one  of  these  cases,  I  made  a  post  mortem 
examination,  and  found  an  abscess  of  the  lung,  communicating 
with  the  pleural  cavity,  which  last  was  filled  with  a  sanio- 
purulent  fluid.  Four  cases  of  a  similar  nature  were  treated 
with  moist  charpie.  One  of  these  died,  and  one  was  dying 
when  I  left ;  the  other  two  were,  in  my  opinion,  in  a  fair  way  to 
recover.  Five  cases  of  gunshot  fracture  of  the  cranium  came 
under  my  notice.  Four  of  these  involved  the  occipital  bone, 
and  all  were  fatal.  A  low  muttering  form  of  delirium,  with 
occasional  paroxysms  of  furious  mania,  was  present  in  all  from 
the  commencement.  Two  cases  occurred  of  gunshot  fracture 
of  the  femur  in  the  upper  third.  Both  were  treated  by  Smith's 
anterior  splint,  and  one  died.  In  no  case  of  fracture  of  the 
long  bones  did  I  attempt  any  formal  resection,  but  confined 
myself  to  removing  splinters  and  foreign  bodies,  and  cutting 
off  very  sharp  projecting  points  with  the  bone  forceps.  From 
my  experience  in  Cliffburne  Hospital,  I  am  convinced  that 
regular  resections  in  such  cases  are  worse  than  doing  nothing 
at  all.  I  partially  resected  the  elbow  joint  in  two  cases,  and 
the  wrist  in  three.  The  wounds  generally  granulated  and 
took  on  a  healthy  appearance  with  great  and  unusual  rapidity, 
which  fact  I  attributed  to  the  following  circumstances:  they 
were  in  the  open  air,  were,  many  of  them,  exposed  for  the  first 
few  days  to  a  warm  rain;  they  had  plenty  of  good  food,  and 
flaxseed  poultices  were  unknown. 

On  July  6th,  Dr.  Billings  wrote  to  his  wife  as  follows: 

Hospital  near  White  Church,  Penna.  Before  you  get  this 
you  will  know  from  a  note  of  Ramsey's  that  I  have  passed 
through  another  great  battle  and  am  safe  and  sound.  I  am 
utterly  exhausted  mentally  and  physically,  have  been  operat- 
ing night  and  day  and  am  still  hard  at  work.  I  have  been 

1  Benjamin  Howard,  Medical  Officer,  United  States  Army,  1861-4. 


His  Civil  "War  Experiences  65 

left  here  in  charge  of  700  wounded,  with  no  supplies  and  have 
got  my  hands  full.  Our  Division  lost  terribly — over  30  per 
cent,  were  killed  and  wounded.  I  had  my  left  ear  just  touched 
with  a  ball  and  Dick's  mane  was  cut  in  two  places.  I  suppose 
we  shall  stay  here  three  or  four  days  and  then  I  shall  rejoin 
my  regiment.  The  Rebs  are  on  a  big  skedaddle  they  say, 
and  I  suppose  we  shall  be  across  the  Potomac  before  long. 
They  may  fight  another  Antietam  again  first  however.  .  .  . 
Ramsey  is  well — has  gone  to  Gettysburg  to  try  and  get  some 
tools  with  which  to  bury  our  dead.  It  has  rained  steadily  for 
four  days  but  I  have  got  all  the  wounded  under  cover  at  last  and 
they  have  all  got  soup  and  coffee,  but  many  of  them  cannot 
have  their  wounds  dressed  oftener  than  once  in  two  days. 

July  9.  Hospital  near  Gettysburg.  6  A.M.  The  days 
creep  by  and  I  am  still  trying  to  produce  order  out  of  chaos, 
and  to  get  my  wounded  patriots  into  something  like  a  state  of 
comfort.  I  am  going  to  send  100  of  them  to  Baltimore  this 
morning,  which  will  relieve  me  a  little.  It  has  rained  steadily 
all  the  time  until  last  night,  when  it  cleared  up,  and  the  sun  is 
shining  splendidly  this  morning — if  I  can  get  some  dry  straw 
for  the  men  and  pry  them  out  of  the  mud,  we  shall  be  in 
Arcady.  I  hear  that  Vicksburg  is  taken  and  that  the  wicked 
and  unholy  is  crushed  entirely  here — I  do  not  think  there  can 
be  very  much  left  of  Lee's  Army.  ...  I  suppose  I  shall  rejoin 
the  Army  in  about  three  or  four  days,  so  you  need  not  direct 
any  of  your  letters  here. 

P.M.  I  am  covered  with  blood  and  am  tired  out  almost 
completely,  and  can  only  say  that  I  wish  I  was  with  you  to- 
night and  could  lie  down  and  sleep  for  16  hours  without  stop- 
ping. I  have  been  operating  all  day  long  and  have  got  the 
chief  part  of  the  butchering  done  in  a  satisfactory  manner. 
Everybody  is  fed  and  comfortably  lodged  and  altogether  I 
have  a  very  nice  little  Hospital  with  about  600  men,  having 
sent  off  100 — all  that  were  able  to  walk — yesterday.  I  don't 
know  how  long  I  shall  be  here — probably  3  or  4  days,  and  have 
no  idea  where  I  shall  find  the  Army,  somewhere  near  Frederick, 
I  suppose. 


66  JoHn.  SKa-w  Billings 

July  10,  6  P.M.  Another  day  has  slipped  around  and  the 
shadows  of  the  trees  begin  to  fall  long  and  dark,  so  I  will 
pencil  off  another  line  or  two  that  you  may  know  that  I  am 
still  flourishing.  Nell  has  just  scrubbed  all  the  blood  out  of 
my  hair  with  Castile  soap  and  bay-rum  and  my  scalp  feels  as  if 
a  steam  plough  had  been  passed  through  it.  I  am  fast  getting 
things  into  shape  and  the  men  are  very  comfortable.  I  have 
sent  Ramsey  off  with  two  big  wagons  to  get  butter,  eggs,  soft 
bread,  and  everything  else  that  he  can  pick  up  from  the  Sani- 
tary Commission  and  various  Relief  Associations  that  now 
swarm  in  Gettysburg,  and  then  I  shall  be  all  right. 

July  ii.  Dr.  Packard,1  of  Phila.,  was  out  here  last  night. 
I  am  off  to  Gettysburg  in  a  hurry.  If  you  had  any  one  to 
come  up  with  you  I  wish  you  could  come  up  here  and  stay 
three  or  four  days — but  it  is  out  of  the  question  for  you  to 
come  alone. 

July  n,  9  P.M.  The  Hospital  has  become  tolerably  quiet — 
the  day's  work  is  over — and  I  have  only  to  scratch  off  a  few 
lines  to  let  you  know  where  I  am  and  then  turn  in  for  a  snooze. 
Things  are  beginning  to  look  very  well  now  and  I  believe 
from  what  everyone  says  who  has  been  about  that  I  have  the 
best  Hospital  here.  I  do  not  know  yet  when  I  shall  join  my 
regiment  but  not  for  four  or  five  days  certainly.  .  .  .  Dr. 
Packard,  of  the  West  Philadelphia  Hospital  was  out  here  last 
night — says  that  everybody  is  prosperous  but  that  they  were 
terribly  frightened  at  Philadelphia  and  began  to  fortify 
Chestnut  Hill. 

During  the  eleven  days  elapsing  between  the  forced 
march  from  Hanover  (July  i)  and  the  above  date,  Dr. 
Billings  had  been  subjected  to  a  degree  of  mental  stress 
and  physical  strain  such  as  few  men,  even  possessing 
his  strong  constitution^  could  have  withstood.  His 
extraordinary  labours  at  Gettysburg — performing  surgical 
operations,  caring  for  the  wounded  under  artillery  fire, 

1  John  H.  Packard,  contract  surgeon  for  hospital  duty,  1861-5. 


His  Civil  "War  Experiences  67 

and  for  some  nine  days  running  after  the  battle,  looking 
after  transportation,  obtaining  supplies  for  his  patients, 
burying  the  dead,  organizing  his  hospital  service — told 
upon  him  in  the  end,  and  his  health  was  so  shattered 
that,  after  continuing  on  duty  at  the  hospital  until  July 
2Oth,  he  was  obliged  to  apply  for  thirty  days'  sick  leave. 
He  left  the  Fifth  Corps  Field  Hospital,  July  22,  1863, 
and  rejoined  his  command  in  August. 

About  the  middle  of  July,  1863,  the  Draft  Riots  in 
New  York  City  were  assuming  dangerous  proportions 
and  several  regiments  of  veterans  from  the  Army  of  the 
Potomac  were  sent  to  quell  the  disturbance.  Dr.  Billings 
after  his  sick  leave  rejoined  the  Seventh  Infantry  and  we 
next  find  him 

On  the  Transport  Daniel  Webster,  opposite  Aquia  Creek, 
August  1 8,  10  A.M.  I  reached  Alexandria  at  10  A.M.  Sunday 
and  found  my  regiment  without  any  trouble.  Everyone 
was  very  glad  to  see  me  and  I  took  up  my  quarters  in  the 
sitting  room  of  the  Marshall  House,  the  one  where  Ellsworth 
was  killed,1  you  remember.  We  did  not  embark  until  Mon- 
day (last  night)  and  left  Alexandria  at  three  o'clock  this 
morning.  I  could  not  get  back  to  Washington  however,  as 
we  expected  to  go  every  hour.  I  found  Nell  with  all  my 
things.  Dick  was  hurt  very  badly  in  getting  him  on  the  ship, 
I  hope  not  seriously. 

August  20,  7  A.M.  We  are  just  entering  the  Narrows  and 
will  be  in  New  York  Harbour  in  about  three  hours.  We  have 
had  a  very  pleasant  trip,  rather  rough  yesterday  afternoon, 
causing  considerable  sea  sickness,  but  I  escaped,  which  I 
think  is  rather  remarkable.  ...  Of  course  I  know  nothing 
yet  as  to  where  I  am  going. 

Delmonico's,  5  P.M.  We  have  gone  into  camp  on  5th 
Avenue  above  49th  Street,  and  here  I  am  at  dinner  in  most 
recherche  style.  I  shall  stay  all  night  at  Lieut.  Curtis's  house 

1  May  24,  1861. 


68  JoHn.  SHaw  Billings 

on  i  yth  Street.     After  the  draft  is  over  we  expect  to  go  to 
Governor's  Island. 

August  26.  Up  in  camp  (Corner  49th  Street  and  5th 
Avenue,  New  York  City).  It  is  10  P.M.,  the  moonlight  is 
pouring  into  my  tent  door  most  magnificently.  All  noise 
has  ceased  for  an  hour  and  before  I  go  to  sleep  I  must  talk 
to  you  awhile.  I  think  it  is  very  strange  I  do  not  hear  from 
you  yet.  ...  I  was  very  much  astonished  this  afternoon  by 
the  entrance  of  Dr.  Ramsey  who  is  on  his  way  to  Charleston 
on  temporary  duty.  .  .  .  There  is  no  telling  how  long  I  shall 
be  here. 

We  next  find  him  at  the  McDougall  General  Hospital, 
Fort  Schuyler,  New  York  Harbour. 

September  12,  7  P.M.  The  evening  gun  was  fired  some 
time  ago  and,  as  it  is  getting  damp  and  chilly,  I  have  retired 
to  my  tent  and  before  going  to  bed,  which  I  propose  to  do 
very  early,  I  will  tell  you  how  we  did  it.  We  left  New  York 
about  1 1  o'clock  this  morning  and  arrived  here  in  a  very  jolly 
condition  about  noon.  Then  we  found  that  there  was  no  one 
here  who  knew  anything  or  could  do  anything,  that  we  had 
nothing  to  eat  and  that  there  was  no  means  of  getting  any- 
thing, and  then  our  jollity  began  to  disappear.  There  is  a 
large  hospital  just  back  of  the  Fort  called  the  McDougall 
Hospital.  It  holds  about  1800  men  and  is  very  nice — better 
than  West  Philadelphia  by  a  good  deal.  I  went  over,  intro- 
duced myself  to  the  surgeon  in  charge,  who  is  on  contract,  and 
succeeded  in  begging  supper  for  all  of  the  7th  officers.  The 
2Oth  Indiana  are  quartered  on  the  slope  of  the  Fort  and  have 
taken  up  all  the  quarters  there  are,  so  that  we  must  all  stick 
to  our  tents.  Genl.  Brown  has  8  rooms  for  his  own  use  and 
you  may  suppose  that  there  is  not  much  left  for  anyone  else. 

September  24.  I  am  enjoying  the  ripeness  of  September 
at  the  seaside,  feel  pretty  well,  had  smoked  halibutfor  breakfast 
and  want  to  get  this  off  so  you  can  get  it  Sunday.  The 


His  Civil  "War  Experiences  69 

weather  is  superb,  magnifique — I  drink  in  the  air  like  wine, 
take  a  ride  almost  every  day,  and  kill  time  as  rapidly  and 
effectually  as  I  can.  I  am  going  down  to  New  York  on 
Saturday  where  I  shall  meet  Lieut.  Curtis  and  go  with  him  up 
to  West  Point,  staying  over  Sunday  and  being  introduced  to  a 
number  of  the  first  families — or  such  as  he  so  considers.  I 
think  the  trip  will  be  pleasant,  although  I  hate  to  be  intro- 
duced to  strangers,  for  in  five  cases  out  of  six  I  become  silent 
and  stupid  immediately.  .  .  .  Nell  has  just  brought  in  some 
grapes  and  cheese  and  crackers  out  of  which  I  propose  to 
make  a  most  substantial  lunch  in  a  few  minutes.  Our  mess 
here  is  by  no  means  equal  to  Delmonico's — in  fact  it  is  very 
poor  and  I  have  to  take  an  extra  lunch  occasionally  to  keep 
along. 

September  25.  I  have  tried  almost  every  method  of  killing 
time  this  morning  but  with  small  success.  The  day  is  cold, 
with  a  drizzling  rain  falling,  so  that  I  have  to  stay  in  doors. 
I  have  read  and  smoked  till  I  was  tired,  and  I  threw  myself 
on  my  cot  and  looked  from  the  open  door  of  my  tent  down  the 
slope  of  the  glacis,  but  could  see  nothing  but  an  avenue  of 
white  tents  terminating  in  a  little  arm  of  the  river  and  beyond 
that  the  tops  of  the  trees.  Then  glancing  around  the  tent 
I  spied  my  lunch  basket — so  I  ate  up  all  the  crackers  and 
cheese  there  was  in  it  and  then  I  was  very  nearly  at  the  end  of 
my  resources.  .  .  .  Yesterday  I  took  a  ride  to  Pelham  Bridge, 
a  very  beautiful  place  about  five  miles  away  and  a  famous 
place  for  catching  fish ;  after  that  I  played  billiards  for  an  hour, 
got  supper,  went  over  to  the  Hospital  and  played  whist  until 
10  P.M.,  getting  rid  of  the  dragging  hours  in  a  very  pleasant 
manner.  When  I  go  to  the  City  to-morrow,  I  am  going  to 
ask  Dr.  McDougall1  to  give  me  a  place  where  I  can  have 
something  to  do  in  a  professional  way,  such  as  taking  charge 
of  a  ward  in  the  Hospital  or  something  of  that  kind.  ...  I 
suppose  I  might  as  well  get  used  to  the  monotony  and  idleness 
of  post  life,  for  when  this  cruel  war  is  over  it  will  become  my 

1  Charles  McDougall,  Medical  Officer,  United  States  Army,  1832-85; 
Medical  Director,  Department  of  the  East  in  1863. 


70  JoHn  SHaw  Billings 

usual  mode  of  existence.  .  .  .  The  great  weapon  I  have  always 
wielded  against  ennui  has  been  reading  and  study,  but  that 
seems  to  have  lost  its  efficacy.  There  goes  the  12  o'clock  call 
and  here  come  the  men  from  drill — I  wonder  how  they  like 
the  change  from  muskets  to  heavy  cannon  and  Columbiads. 
They  are  glad  enough  to  be  here  however,  and  to  have  the 
prospect  before  them  of  remaining  here  all  winter. 

September  27.  Yesterday  I  went  down  to  the  City  and 
found  an  order  there  sending  me  to  Watertown,  N.  Y.,  near 
Sackett's  Harbour,  to  inspect  some  drafted  men  and  substi- 
tutes. I  suppose  I  shall  be  gone  between  one  and  two  weeks. 
I  shall  start  to-morrow. 

October  3.  A  back  room  in  a  Provost  Marshal's  Office, 
Watertown,  N.  Y.  Business  is  very  brisk  just  now,  with 
every  prospect  of  a  rise.  I  think  we  shall  just  about  get 
through  here  next  week  and  I  shall  go  back  to  New  York 
Saturday  night.  I  am  glad  I  came  up  here — it  is  a  new  kind 
of  work  and  some  funny  things  occur  now  and  then.  Fancy 
a  large  red-cheeked  farmer  coming  in  and  telling  that  he  is  so 
weak  that  he  couldn't  lift  a  dog's  tail  if  it  curled.  Every 
man  seems  to  have  a  skeleton  in  his  house  of  some  kind  or 
other,  and  we  find  it  out  to  a  certainty  if  any  exists.  To- 
morrow, being  Sunday,  I  am  going  with  two  other  gentlemen 
to  explore  a  large  cave  on  the  Black  River,  about  three  miles 
from  here. 

On  October  13,  1863,  Dr.  Billings  received  his  definite 
assignment  to  the  McDougall  Hospital;  on  October  29th, 
he  was  transferred  to  the  De  Camp  General  Hospital, 
David's  Island,  New  York  Harbour,  of  which  he  was 
placed  in  charge;  and  from  November  13,  1863,  until 
April  8,  1864,  he  was  stationed  at  the  Convalescent 
Hospital,  Bedloe's  Island,  New  York  Harbour.  Here 
the  monotony  and  inaction  of  post  life,  at  which  he  always 
chafed,  were  probably  the  same  as  he  has  described, 
diversified  by  the  usual  pleasant  interludes. 


His  Civil  "War  Experiences  71 

December  5.  I  sold  Dick  yesterday  to  the  Quartermaster, 
getting  $140,  and  he  will  soon  be  in  the  Army  of  the  Potomac 
again.  Night  before  last  I  staid  over  at  Mrs.  Curtis's,  listen- 
ing to  music  and  looking  at  engravings  and  altogether  had  a 
very  pleasant  time.  .  .  .  Mr.  Curtis  has  finished  his  exami- 
nation and  passed  with  flying  colours — he  is  more  jubilant  than 
I  have  ever  seen  him  before.  Matters  at  the  Hospital  are 
going  on  with  tolerable  smoothness.  The  papers  relative  to 
my  dispute  with  Col.  Merchant  have  been  sent  to  Genl.  Dix 
for  decision  and,  in  the  meantime,  the  Colonel  and  myself 
are  on  the  most  excellent  terms.  ...  I  wish  I  could  feel  more 
like  studying  than  I  do,  for  I  think  Congress  is  going  to  so 
alter  the  laws  this  winter  that  I  shall  have  to  stand  another 
examination  before  long,  and  I  don't  feel  at  all  prepared  for 
anything  of  that  sort,  neither  do  I  feel  much  like  preparing 
myself.  I  shall  shake  off  my  lethargy  in  a  day  or  two,  I  hope, 
and  go  to  studying  again  as  of  old.  .  .  . 

Between  February  5th,  and  March  21,  1864,  Dr. 
Billings  was  put  in  charge  of  an  enterprise  which  was  to 
relieve  him  of  the  tedium  of  post  life  and  of  which  he  has 
left  a  personal  memorandum: 

While  at  Bedloe's  Island  in  February,  1864,  I  received  an 
order  to  report  on  board  the  ship  Marcia  C.  Day,  then  lying 
in  the  harbour  of  New  York.  On  going  on  board  I  found  that 
she  was  a  ship  of  about  1 ,000  tons  burden,  having  on  board  an 
officer  with  a  small  detachment  of  the  invalid  corps,  and  being 
under  orders  to  proceed  to  a  certain  point  in  the  Atlantic 
Ocean  east  of  Florida  and  there  open  enclosed  sealed  orders. 
Possible  clues  to  her  destination  were  a  number  of  boxes  of 
drugs  and  surgical  instruments  addressed  to  Assistant  Surgeon 
John  S.  Billings,  U.  S.  A.,  Isthmus  of  Panama,  and  the  fact 
that  the  hold  had  been  cleared  out  and  fitted  up  roughly 
with  wo  story  wooden  bunks.  Many  were  the  speculations 
as  to  where  we  were  going  and  what  we  were  going  for. 

On  arriving  at  the  point  where  the  sealed  order  was  to  be 
opened,  there  was  found  enclosed  another  order  to  proceed 


72  JoHn  SHaw  Billings 

to  a.  point  half  way  between  the  west  end  of  Hayti  and  the 
east  end  of  Cuba  and  there  open  another  enclosed  sealed  order. 
On  arriving  at  this  point  and  opening  this  sealed  order  we 
found  an  order  to  proceed  to  the  He  a  Vache  on  the  south  coast 
of  Hayti  opposite  Aux  Cayes,  and  there  take  on  board  a 
number  of  negroes,  who  had  been  sent  down  there  from 
Virginia,  and  bring  them  back  to  the  United  States. 

This  colony  of  negroes  was  one  started  in  1862,  in  pursu- 
ance of  the  then  policy  of  the  government  to  attempt  to 
settle  freed  slaves  in  outlying  districts  or  islands,  such 
as  Liberia  or  Hayti.  On  December  31,  1862,  President 
Lincoln  signed  a  contract  with  one  Bernard  Kock  under 
which  the  latter  agreed  to  colonize  5,000  negroes  on  the 
He  a  Vache  at  $50.00  per  head,  binding  himself  to  furnish 
them  with  houses,  garden  lots,  churches,  and  schools, 
to  find  them  food  and  medical  attendance  and  to  employ 
them  as  freedmen  for  four  years  at  rates  of  from  $4.00  to 
$10.00  per  month.  Kock  then  got  up  a  scheme  of  specula- 
tion, holding  out  most  alluring  prospects  to  New  York 
and  Boston  capitalists  (600  per  cent,  in  nine  months) 
and  many  of  these  were  beguiled  into  investing  their 
money.  Kock  soon  turned  out  to  be  "an  irresponsible 
and  untruthful  adventurer  "  and  it  was  even  rumoured  that 
he  was  in  league  with  Semmes  of  the  Alabama  to  turn 
over  the  negroes  to  the  latter  as  "captured  run-away 
slaves."  The  President  speedily  cancelled  the  contract 
and  the  capitalists  made  Kock  turn  over  his  lease  of  the 
island  to  them,  themselves  entering  into  a  new  contract 
with  the  Secretary  of  the  Interior  (April  6,  1863),  under 
which  a  ship  load  of  negro  emigrants,  some  411  to  453 
persons,  were  sent  on  the  Ocean  Ranger  to  the  island. 
These  rapidly  died  off  from  smallpox  or  other  diseases, 
were  tyrannized  over  by  Kock,  who  had  set  up  for  the 
nonce,  as  a  dummy  governor  of  the  colony  until  he  was 
driven  out,  and  the  prospects  of  agricultural  and  similar 


His  Civil  War  Experiences  73 

developments  came  to  nothing.  On  December  12,  1863, 
the  capitalists,  through  their  silent  partner,  declined  to 
give  any  further  financial  aid  to  the  colonists  and  a  special 
agent,  sent  by  the  President  in  October,  reported  that 
there  were  371  survivors  of  the  original  emigrants,  all 
dissatisfied  and  in  desperate  straits.  The  Haytian 
Government  was  furthermore  unwilling  that  they  should 
remain  there,  and  accordingly  the  Secretary  of  the  Interior 
sent  the  Marcia  C.  Day  to  bring  them  back.  On  March 
4,  1864,  this  vessel  with  the  survivors  sailed  from  the 
island,  reaching  Alexandria,  Virginia,  on  March  20. 
The  fact  that  Dr.  Billings  was  put  in  charge  of  this  expedi- 
tion under  sealed  orders  from  President  Lincoln  shows 
the  high  reputation  he  had  already  attained  as  an  honour- 
able and  trustworthy  officer.  As  has  often  happened 
in  our  political  history,  an  honest  man  of  strong  character 
had  to  be  found  to  patch  up  the  mischief-making  of  a 
sharp  practitioner. 

On  March  29,  1864,  probably  at  his  own  request,  Bill- 
ings was  relieved  from  the  Department  of  the  East,  where 
the  service  was  sedentary  post  duty,  and  was  ordered  to 
the  Army  of  the  Potomac.  At  that  date,  besides  the 
forces  about  Washington,  at  Fort  Monroe,  and  along 
the  upper  Potomac,  and  the  troops  more  or  less  mobile  in 
the  Shenandoah  Valley,  there  were  available  for  the  field 
in  Virginia  three  distinct  commands  and  four  commanding 
generals.  The  Army  of  the  James,  under  General  Butler, 
was  concentrating  near  Fort  Monroe  for  a  movement 
to  Bermuda  Hundred,  just  north  of  the  mouth  of  the  Ap- 
pomattox.  The  Army  of  the  Potomac,  under  General 
Meade,  was  encamped  between  the  Rappahannock  and 
the  Rapidan  rivers,  and  in  actual  contact  but  not  in 
military  union  with  it  was  the  Ninth  Corps,  four  strong 
divisions  under  General  Burnside,  which  guarded  the 
railroad  in  the  rear.  On  February  26,  1864,  General 


74  JoKn  SHaw  Billings 

Grant  had  been  appointed  a  lieutenant-general,  the  only 
one  of  that  grade  in  the  Union  Army,  and  given  command, 
under  the  President,  of  all  the  military  forces  of  the 
United  States.  General  Grant's  headquarters  were  at 
Culpeper  Court  House,  and  General  Meade,  with  the 
headquarters  of  the  Army  of  the  Potomac,  was  six  miles 
away,  near  Brandy  Station.  These  two  generals  exercis- 
ing distinct  functions,  their  headquarters  were  not  only 
not  identical,  as  is  commonly  supposed,  but  were  topo- 
graphically separated. 

Having  reported  at  the  headquarters  of  the  Army  of  the 
Potomac  on  April  I2th,  Billings  was  assigned  to  duty 
with  the  Medical  Director,  Surgeon  Thomas  A.  McParlin, 
on  April  i6th. 

At  this  time,  the  Army  of  the  Potomac  was  lying  north 
of  and  not  far  from  the  Rapidan,  and  south  of  that  river 
was  Lee  with  the  Army  of  Northern  Virginia,  strongly 
entrenched  west  of  Mine  Run.  Soon  after  midnight, 
May  3d,  Grant  began  the  campaign  which  was  to  close  the 
war  by  crossing  the  Rapidan,  with  Sheridan  in  the  lead 
and  Torbert  guarding  the  rear,  to  find  Lee  confronting 
him  next  day  in  the  tangled  thicket  of  the  Wilderness. 
Throughout  this  momentous  campaign,  up  to  his  assign- 
ment to  the  Surgeon-General's  Office  on  December  21, 
1864,  Dr.  Billings  was,  to  all  intents  and  purposes  a 
medical  inspector  of  the  Army  of  the  Potomac,  his  duties 
under  Medical  Director  McParlin  being  of  the  most 
varied  and  exacting  kind.  Constantly  on  horseback, 
keeping  a  strict  eye  on  things  everywhere,  it  was  his  duty 
to  collect  medical  statistics,  look  after  the  disposition  of 
ambulances  and  supplies  in  connection  with  the  trans- 
portation and  care  of  the  wounded,  write  telegrams  and 
assist  in  framing  orders,  supervise  the  collection  of  patho- 
logical specimens,  send  wounded  and  infectious  cases  from 
the  field  to  hospitals  with  all  dispatch,  and  sometimes 


His  Civil  "War  Experiences  75 

even  to  operate  in  difficult  cases.  Here  he  undoubtedly 
developed  his  remarkable  talent  for  organization  and 
administration.  His  skill  in  improvising  messages  of  un- 
mistakable clearness  and  precision  won  for  him  the  praise  of 
his  ranking  officers  and  fixed  his  future  ideal  of  a  literary 
style  which  should  be,  as  he  long  afterward  expressed  it, 
"concise  as  a  telegram."  In  attempting  to  give  a  picture 
of  his  experiences,  which  extended  up  to  the  investment 
of  Petersburg,  we  shall  rely  partly  on  his  letters  to  his 
wife  and  partly  on  the  very  careful  and  circumstantial 
records  in  his  pocket  note-books.  On  April  i6th,  he  was 
introduced  to  General  Grant,  and  his  first  impression  of 
the  unpretentious  man  of  Appomattox  is  a  true  and 
accurate  one : 

April  17,  1864.  Nothing  new  or  important  has  happened 
yet,  but  everyone  is  busy  getting  ready  for  the  good  time 
coming.  The  Headquarters  are  now  located  near  Brandy 
Station,  6  miles  from  Culpeper.  'Yesterday  I  went  up  to 
Culpeper,  saw  Major  Dent,  who  inquired  very  specially  after 
you,  was  introduced  by  him  to  General  Grant  and  took  dinner 
with  the  General1  and  his  staff.  I  like  Genl.  Grant.  He  is  a 
thoroughbred  gentleman  and  suits  me  exactly.  ...  I  am  at 
work  making  myself  familiar  with  the  records  and  business 
of  the  office.  To-morrow  I  am  going  to  ride  around  the  6th 
Corps  and  pick  up  what  information  I  can.  ...  I  am  going 
to  try  to  ride  over  the  whole  Army  before  it  moves  and  get 
acquainted  with  the  doctors,  so  that  I  shall  always  be  at  home 
wherever  I  am.  .  .  .  There  are  a  number  of  very  pleasant 

1  It  is  known  that  General  Grant  not  only  held  his  medical  officers  in 
esteem,  but  attached  a  great  deal  of  importance  to  their  views  and 
opinions  in  relation  to  the  general  well-being  of  his  men.  In  this,  he  was 
perhaps  but  following  the  well-known  dictum  of  his  old  chief,  General 
Winfield  Scott,  U.  S.  A.,  who  said:  "I  am  in  the  habit,  myself,  when  on 
duty  with  troops,  of  paying  great  deference,  and  even  of  yielding  my 
opinion,  on  matters  deeply  affecting  health  and  life,  to  the  advice  of  my 
medical  staff." 


76  JoKn  SHaw  Billings 

gentlemen  on  Meade's  staff.  My  duties  too  are  just  what  I 
like — I  shall  see  and  know  all  that  is  going  on  and  shall  not 
be  overworked,  while  at  the  same  time  I  shall  have  enough  to 
do  to  keep  me  from  getting  blue.  The  weather  is  fine,  the 
roads  are  drying  up  rapidly,  and  the  Army  will  be  able  to 
move  in  a  week  I  think.  Where  it  will  move  to  is  unknown — • 
I  have  an  idea  that  operations  will  begin  down  on  the  Penin- 
sula. .  .  .  Remember  me  especially  to  the  General1  and  tell 
him  that  I  think  I  shall  see  Richmond  before  I  do  Washington. 

April  17,  1864.  This  is  Sunday  morning — has  been  raining 
all  night  and  is  now  cloudy  and  cool.  I  am  going  to  ride  up 
through  the  mud  to  Culpeper  to-day,  about  6  miles  away  to 
see  some  of  my  old  friends  of  the  5th  Corps.  My  duties  here 
are  gradually  becoming  defined — I  am  to  be  what  you  might 
call  the  Medical  Statistician  of  the  Army  of  the  Potomac.  I 
am  to  collect  and  consolidate  all  sorts  of  reports — and  when  a 
battle  comes  off  I  am  to  wander  round  from  Hospital  to 
Hospital  collecting  records — overseeing  the  surgery  in  an 
unofficial  way — and  noting  down  items.  When  the  Army 
begins  to  move  I  shall  wander  about  like  a  newspaper  reporter. 
I  am  going  to  have  a  good  time  this  summer — the  sort  of  work 
just  suits  me — and  I  like  my  associates  very  much. 

April  26.  I  have  been  very  busy  since  I  got  down  here, 
either  riding  or  writing  all  the  time  and  getting  things  into  a 
proper  condition  for  moving.  We  shall  go  in  two  or  three 
days  now. 

April  30.  Dr.  Brinton  sent  me  a  barrel  of  whisky  yesterday 
with  which  to  preserve  surgical  specimens  and  immediately 
after  the  next  battle,  I  expect  to  send  enough  pickled  arms 
and  legs  to  the  Surgeon  General  to  make  a  museum  of  them- 
selves. .  .  .  The  Army  has  not  yet  moved  and  will  not  for 
three  or  four  days.  General  Burnside's  headquarters  are  at 
Warrenton  Junction  and  his  Corps  lies  along  the  railroad  as 
far  as  the  Rappahannock  River.  General  Hooker  with  his 

'His  father-in-law,  General  Stevens. 


His  Civil  "War  Experiences  77 

column  is  probably  in  the  Shenandoah  Valley.  .  .  .  Altogether 
we  have  a  tremendous  force  converging  toward  Richmond 
just  now.  (All  of  this  is  contraband  and  to  be  kept  to  yourself 
for  a  week  at  least.) 

May  3.  The  Army  moves  at  3  A.M.  to-morrow  morning 
and  I  will  be  across  the  Rapidan  by  dark.  The  battle  will 
probably  come  off  on  the  6th  or  7th  of  May. 

[Grant's  Army  crosses  the  Rapidan.] 

May  4.  5  P.M.  Headquarters  moved  at  5  this  morning, 
travelling  about  17  miles  and  crossing  the  Rapidan  at  Ger- 
manna  Ford  at  10  A.M.  We  are  camped  on  the  high  bluffs 
overlooking  the  Ford,  and  as  beautiful  a  sunset  as  I  ever  saw 
is  now  being  exhibited  for  our  benefit.  The  whole  army  is 
across  the  river  and  occupies  Chancellors vi lie  and  ten  miles 
of  the  road  leading  from  that  place  to  Orange  Court  House. 
As  yet  no  signs  of  the  enemy  have  been  seen  and  it  is  very 
uncertain  when  or  where  we  shall  fight  them.  We  have  just 
had  a  dinner  of  broiled  chicken,  stewed  tomatoes,  etc.  and  I 
am  smoking  my  pipe  in  a  virtuous  and  jolly  manner. 

On  the  same  day,  Lee,  with  incredible  swiftness,  sent 
Ewell's  corps  along  the  turnpike  and  Hill's  by  the  plank 
road,  so  that  by  nightfall  they  were  half  through  the 
Wilderness,  the  former  colliding  with  Warren  on  the 
morning  of  the  5th. 

May  4  (Note-book) .  Bivouacked  on  the  heights  at  Ger- 
manna  Ford  about  10  A.M.  Troops  marched  well:  stragglers 
mere  boys — ambulances  pretty  full.  I  canvas  pontoon 
bridge  and  i  wooden  at  G.  F.  Canvas  bridge  to  be  taken  up. 
Genl.  Gregg1  has  been  to  Chancellorsville — found  nothing 
but  a  few  pickets.  Cavalry  headquarters  are  with  us,  5th 
Corps  is  moving  to  the  left,  6th  Corps  train  finished  crossing 
at  5  P.M.  .  .  .  Genl.  Grant  and  staff  join  headquarters  at  12  M. 

1  David  McM.  Gregg,  cavalry  officer,  United  States  Army,  1855-65. 


78  JoKn  SHaw  Billings 

[May  5-6 :     Battle  of  the  Wilderness.] 

May  5.  Sunny  and  pleasant.  Headquarters  moved  at 
6  A.M.  Rode  to  Woodville  Mine,  found  ist  Div.,  5th  Corps, 
in  line  of  battle  to  the  left,  south  of  Orange  and  Alexandria 
road.  7  A.M.  Dr.  Dougherty1  reports  that  he  is  already 
overloaded  with  sick  and  asks  whether  they  can  be  sent 
to  rear.  2nd  Corps  moved  at  5  A.M.  from  Chancellorsville 
toward  the  Furnaces.  7 130  A.M.  Enemy  reported  advancing 
along  plank  road.  Reserve  trains  have  been  ordered  to  halt 
at  Ely's  Ford  instead  of  Todd's  Tavern,  n  A.M.  Picket 
firing  in  front  of  the  5th  Corps.  Genl.  Getty's2  Division 
[2d  Corps]  moving  up  the  plank  road  on  which  the  Reb 
cavalry  is  reported.  5:30  P.M.  The  2nd  Corps  is  now  en- 
gaged and  the  firing  on  the  left  is  very  heavy.  Very  little 
artillery  has  been  used  to-day.  The  enemy  occupy  the  ground 
first  held  by  ist  Div.,  5th  Corps,  and  a  number  of  our  wounded 
are  left  there.  560  wounded  are  now  in  ist  Div.  Hospital, 
5th  Corps.  Total  number  wounded  in  the  hospitals  of  the 
5th  Corps  is  about  1700.  The  2nd  Division,  6th  Corps, 
engaged  the  enemy  and  was  forced  to  retire,  losing  about  1800 
men;  1400  are  in  hospital.  The  2nd  Corps  engaged  about 
4$4  P.M.  Their  loss  is  not  yet  known.  The  general  supply 
trains  are  up,  lying  near  Woodville  Mine.  The  2nd  and  3rd 
Divisions,  5th  Corps,  were  in  reserve  and  lost  but  few  men — 
about  135  together.  The  3rd  Division,  6th  Corps,  was 
engaged  about  6  P.M.  but  for  a  brief  period.  It  retains  its 
old  position.  700  prisoners  taken. 

May  6,  5  A.M.  Headquarters  moved  upon  a  little  knoll 
west  of  plank  road,  about  100  yards  from  camp.  Burnside's 
Corps  was  passing  up  the  plank  road.  5:15  A.M.  Sedgwick 
engages  the  enemy.  Firing  on  the  left.  9 130  A.M.  Batteries 
have  been  planted  on  the  hill,  about  150  yards  west  of  plank 

1  Alexander  V.  Dougherty,  Surgeon,  United  States  Volunteers  (Medical 
Division,  Second  Corps). 

*  George  W.  Getty,  artillery  and  infantry  officer,  United  States  Army, 
1840-82. 


His  Civil  "War  Experiences  79 

road,  around  present  headquarters.  2  P.M.  2nd  Div.,  2nd 
Corps,  engage.  250  wounded  in  hospital.  Tents  were  not 
all  up  this  morning.  3rd  Div.  went  in  at  3  P.M.  800  wounded. 
1 8  tents  but  none  up.  ist  Div.  has  about  150  wounded.  18 
tents  up.  4th  Div.:  250  wounded.  All  had  commissary 
supplies.  Large  quantities  of  shelters  up;  deficiency  in 
blankets,  supply  trains  not  being  up.  Ground  fought  on 
mostly  covered  with  underbrush.  Hospitals  located  on  a  slope 
one  mile  south-east  of  the  junction  of  the  Germanna  Ford 
and  Orange  Court  House  plank  roads.  12  M.  Little  firing  has 
been  heard  since  10  A.M.  Artillery  firing  is  now  going  on  on 
the  left.  Genl.  Burnside  has  gone  in  on  the  right  of  the  2nd 
Corps.  The  reserve  artillery  is  with  the  5th  Corps.  I  P.M. 
No  firing  since  noon.  Part  of  Burnside's  Corps,  becoming 
demoralized,  came  down  the  plank  road  straggling  through 
the  woods  right  and  left.  Genl.  Patrick 's  Brigade,  forming  a 
skirmish  line  i>£  miles  long,  is  now  advancing,  driving  them 
back.  (900  wounded  in  ist  Div.  Hospital,  5th  Corps.) 
Burnside's  reserve  turns.  All  the  brigade  supplies  were  up 
by  9  o'clock,  ist  Div.  Hospital  has  ice.  3:40  P.M.  6th 
Corps  Hospital  ordered  to  be  moved.  4  P.M.  Heavy 
rattling  of  musketry  on  the  left.  Dispatch  just  received  from 
Hancock  stating  that  the  enemy  had  attacked  on  the  Brock 
Road  and  been  repulsed.  6  P.M.  Order  to  remove  6th  Corps 
Hospital  revoked  by  Genl.  Meade.  Artillery  firing  in  centre 
of  line.  Headquarter  wagons  are  on  the  hills  west  of  where 
it  has  been  stationed  to-day.  7 :2O  P.M.  The  right  flank  of 
the  6th  Corps  is  turned  and  the  Rebel  skirmishers  are  on  the 
plank  road  this  side  of  the  Spottswood  House  where  the  Hospi- 
tal of  ist  Div.  6th  Corps  is,  containing  nearly  500  wounded 
and  the  tents  are  up.  (This  is  reported  by  Dr.  Holman.)  All 
the  Division  ambulances  are  also  at  the  Hospital.  9:15  P.M. 
Genl.  Meade  orders  the  6th  Corps  Hospitals  to  be  removed 
back  on  the  turnpike  to  touch  the  artillery  reserve.  Also  3rd 
Div.  Hospital  of  5th  Corps  to  be  moved.  940  P.M.  ist  Div. 
Hospital,  5th  Corps,  quiet.  44  officers — about  700  men 
(wounded).  Dr.  Holman  has  been  ordered  to  send  for  the 
train  of  the  ist  Div.,  6th  Corps,  if  it  can  get  through.  One 


8o  JoKn  SKa-w  Billings 

case  of  variola  in  artillery  brigade.  5th  Corps  under  shelter 
about  200  yards  east  of  the  Hospital.  .  .  .  Gcnl.  Sedgwick's 
line  is  all  right. 

[Grant  moves  by  the  left  flank  to  Spottsylvania  Court  House; 
Cavalry  engagement  (Sheridan  and  Stuart)  at  T odd's  Tavern .] 

May  7,  9  A.M.  Brinton  is  now  at  the  crossing  of  the  pike 
and  plank  road  about  3  miles  from  Chancellorsville.  Dr. 
Dalton  reports  that  there  are  few  or  no  men  in  the  6th  Corps 
Hospitals  who  cannot  be  moved  in  case  of  necessity.  .  .  . 
Burnside  and  Hancock  report  that  having  advanced  their 
skirmishers,  they  find  no  enemy.  It  is  supposed  that  the 
Rebels  may  be  massing  on  our  right  and  preparations  are 
being  made  accordingly.  All  the  trains  are  moving  east  on  the 
pike.  The  day  is  close  and  sultry.  Burnside's  coloured  troops 
are  moving  east  on  the  turnpike  to  guard  the  trains.  .  .  . 
10:30  A.M.  Genl.  Meade  orders  that  all  the  sick  and  wounded 
be  sent  to  Washington  by  way  of  Ely's  Ford.  4  P.M.  Spotts- 
wood  Hospital  shelled  at  2  30  P.M.  5  men  and  35  Rebs  left. 

(Letter)  May  8,  8  A.M.  Headquarters  A.  of  P. — all  over 
the  country.  For  the  last  three  days  the  army  has  been  shoot- 
ing in  a  general  way  at  everything  they  could  find.  We  have 
thus  far  lost  about  15,000  men,  the  Rebs  about  the  same.  Last 
night  we  had  a  terrible  ride  through  the  woods  and  swamps — 
have  had  nothing  but  one  piece  of  hard  bread  since  yesterday 
morning.  We  are  going  now  toward  Spottsylvania  Court 
House.  I  am  all  right  and  only  hope  you  and  Birdie  are.  We 
send  our  wounded  to  Fredericksburg  to-morrow. 

(Note-book).  6:30  A.M.  Cavalry  corps  headquarters  are 
with  us  at  Todd's  Tavern.  The  5th  Corps  are  passing  on  the 
road  leading  S.  W.  Dr.  Winne  reports  that  about  200  wounded 
were  left  in  the  5th  Corps  Hospital  on  account  of  lack  of 
transportation;  shelter,  commissary,  and  medical  supplies  and 
medical  officers  were  left  with  them.  ...  156  wounded  now 
in  the  Cavalry  Hospital  near  this  place.  .  .  .  Wounds  of 
Cavalry  Corps  are  more  serious  now  than  formerly,  as  there  is 
so  much  charging  done.  10  A.M.  Headquarters  moved  from 


His  Civil  "War  Experiences  81 

Todd's  Tavern  to  Piney  Branch  Church.  1 1  A.M.  All  the 
wounded  are  ordered  to  Fredericksburg.  Dr.  Dalton  is  to 
remain  in  charge  until  relieved  by  some  officer  from  Washing- 
ton. 3  P.M.  Headquarters  ordered  to  break  camp  and  move 
down  the  Spottsylvania  road.  Received  order  from  Medical 
Director  to  ride  to  Dr.  Holman  and  get  ambulances  if  possible 
to  assist  in  carrying  off  cavalry  wounded.  Rode  down  the 
Spottsylvania  road  and  found  that  the  5th  Corps  had  been 
engaged  and  was  in  line  of  battle  across  the  road.  .  .  .  The 
1st  Division  has  about  475  wounded.  .  .  .  All  this  part  of  the 
country  is  low  and  covered  with  dense  second  growth  of  forest. 
Little  creeks  are  found  frequently.  No  wind  is  felt  anywhere, 
all  is  hot,  dusty  and  sultry.  All  of  the  hospitals  are  in  my 
opinion  too  close  to  the  road.  I  saw  32  cases  of  sunstroke 
to-day. 

May  9.  8  P.M.  The  army  is  ordered  to  rest  to-day  for  the 
purpose  of  receiving  rations  and  ammunition  and  to  entrench 
itself.  Another  hot,  sultry  day.  IIA.M.  General  Sedgwick1 
just  brought  in  from  the  front — died  in  5  minutes  after  getting 
here,  shot  through  the  base  of  the  brain  by  a  sharpshooter. 
Sent  a  steward  to  cleanse  the  body,  preparatory  to  having  it 
embalmed.  Genl.  Meade  is  out  in  front  with  his  staff,  near 
Warren's  headquarters.  No  fighting  to-day.  ...  I  sent  one 
spring  wagon  with  ice  with  which  to  preserve  if  possible 
General  Sedgwick's  body  which  now  lies  here.  ...  I  have 
been  at  work  this  afternoon  embalming  General  Sedgwick.  .  .  . 
There  was  brisk  firing  for  about  15  minutes  at  6  P.M.  on  the 

1  Major  General  John  Sedgwick  (1813-64),  of  Cornwall,  Connecticut, 
graduated  from  West  Point  in  1837,  and,  after  serving  with  conspicuous 
gallantry  in  the  Mexican  War,  was  twice  wounded  at  Antietam,  and  played 
a  heroic  part  in  the  management  of  his  corps,  in  connection  with  the  battle 
of  Chancellorsville  particularly  at  Salem  Church,  and  rendered  equally 
distinguished  and  effective  service  at  Gettysburg.  He  was  one  of  the  finest 
and  bravest  of  the  old  line  officers  of  the  Army,  an  honourable,  high-minded 
man  of  great  simplicity  of  character,  who  exerted  a  strong  influence  upon 
the  morale  and  discipline  of  his  men.  His  statue  stands  on  the  plateau  at 
West  Point.  He  was  held  in  especially  high  regard  by  Dr.  Billings,  who 
named  his  son  after  him. 


82  JoHn.  SHaw  Billing's 

left.  The  day  has  been  warm  and  sunny.  The  band  is  now 
playing  the  Miserere  from  Trovatore.  The  entire  Cavalry 
Corps  started  on  the  march  to-day  for  James  River,  to  connect 
with  Butler.  One  ambulance  to  each  brigade  accompanied 
them  but  no  wagons  of  any  kind  except  for  ammunition.  Some 
medical  supplies  were  taken  on  mules.  No  reports  have  yet 
come  from  the  train  of  wounded  sent  with  Dalton  to  Fredericks- 
burg,  and  much  anxiety  is  felt  on  their  account.  The  cavalry 
reserve's  trains  are  near  Silver's  house — they  have  no  forage 
at  all.  All  of  our  horses  are  cut  down  to  5  pounds  of  oats  per 
day — they  are  getting  used  up.  Our  own  rations  are  also  short. 
.  .  .  The  movements  of  the  cavalry  for  two  days  have  been 
toward  the  left,  in  such  a  manner  as  to  protect  our  train  of 
wounded  going  to  Fredericksburg.  A  rumour  is  here  from  Burn- 
side,  who  is  on  the  Chancellorsville  road,  that  our  train  arrived 
safely.  Burnside  is  also  aware  of  the  capture  of  the  ambulances 
and  of  the  suffering  condition  of  the  wounded  in  the  abandoned 
hospitals  and  he  has  said  he  would  attend  to  it.  .  .  .  We 
estimate  1600  wounded  on  hand  to-night  of  whom  800  can 
walk  and  we  have  230  army  wagons  which  will  carry  the  rest. 

[Assault  of  Warren's  and  Wright's  Corps  at  Spottsylvania.] 

May  10.  8  A.M.  Wounded  ordered  to  be  sent  to  Fredericks- 
burg  to-day.  Circular  issued  from  this  office  ordering  medical 
directors  of  corps  to  put  their  wounded  in  army  wagons.  .  .  . 
No  ambulances  or  spring  wagons  will  be  allowed  to  go.  .  .  .  The 
headquarters  are  on  ploughed  ground  and  very  dirty.  ...  A 
breeze  is  blowing  to-day  making  it  a  little  cooler  than  it  has 
been.  Col.  Schriver's  spring  wagon  was  sent  with  General 
Sedgwick's  body.  10  A.M.  artillery  firing  is  going  on  on  the 
left.  Total  wounded  11,682.  1:30  P.M.  .  .  .  I  request  a  supply 
for  15,000  men  for  5  days  to  be  sent  to  Belle  Plain  and  that  the 
chief  medical  officer  there  pack  it  in  empty  wagons  and  send 
them  to  Dr.  Brinton  with  the  forage  and  ammunition  trains. 
Medical  officers  are  nearly  exhausted  from  working  day  and 
night  and  the  medical  officers  sent  to  Fredericksburg  should  be 
returned  as  soon  as  possible.  .  .  .  We  are  engaging  the  enemy 


His  Civil  "War  Experiences  83 

daily  and  are  constantly  issuing  supplies.  If  our  advance  is 
hotly  contested  we  shall  need  supplies  for  15,000  wounded  for 
5  or  6  days.  McKenzie1  to  pack  his  steamers  ready  to  move. 
.  .  .  Dust  is  whirling  in  dense  clouds.  It  is  impossible  to  see 
200  yards  and  equally  impossible  to  eat.  Artillery  and  skirmish 
firing  has  been  going  on  all  the  afternoon.  Dr.  McParlin  and 
myself  have  been  talking  in  the  tent,  the  darkies  are  all  asleep 
in  the  wagon.  ...  4 130  P.M.  A  brisk  fight  is  now  going  on, 
175  wounded  are  now  in  the  6th  Corps  Hospital  and  more  are 
coming  in.  6  P.M.  Headquarters  broken  up  and  moved  down 
on  the  Piney  Branch  Church  road.  .  .  .  The  confusion  and 
dust  were  terrible,  heavy  shell  firing  was  going  on  in  front,  and 
a  slight  stampede  resulted.  I  rode  to  the  5th  Corps  Hospitals 
at  Cossins  House  and  found  everything  in  capital  order.  All 
the  wounded  [196  in  number]  had  been  sent  off  in  army  wagons. 
These  wagons  carried  from  3  to  8  persons.  The  beds  were 
thickly  covered  with  blankets  covered  with  evergreen  boughs. 
Not  one  man  has  been  sent  away  from  these  hospitals  without 
one  or  two  blankets.  Those  sent  to-day  had  one  day's  rations. 
125  wounded  were  sent  from  the  2nd  Corps.  In  the  6th  Corps 
they  use  hard  bread  boxes  for  seats.  Lemons,  peaches,  ice 
and  condensed  milk  were  plenty.  I  rode  to  the  2d  Corps — 
everything  is  working  splendidly.  9:15  P.M.  There  was  to 
have  been  a  general  attack  at  5  P.M.  to-day  but  it  was  limited 
in  most  places  to  artillery  work.  The  2nd  Corps  lost  heavily 
this  evening. 

(Letter.)  May  u.  6  A.M.  We  had  a  very  extensive 
shindy  yesterday  afternoon  and  sharpshooting  is  going  on 
actively  now.  I  was  up  nearly  all  night,  riding  around  to 
the  hospitals  and  writing  orders.  None  of  your  friends  have 
been  hit  yet,  so  far  as  I  know. 

(Note-book.)  May  n.  6  A.M.  A  beautiful  morning. 
Sharpshooting  is  going  on  just  in  front  of  us.  Genl.  Hancock 
rode  up — he  states  that  he  left  a  number  of  his  wounded  on  the 
field  by  Genl.  Barlow  falling  back  from  his  position  across  the 
river  before  any  ambulances  could  get  up.  When  the  5th 

1  Thomas  G.  MacKenzie,  Medical  Officer,  United  States  Army,  1861-67. 


84  JoHn  SHaw  Billings 

Corps  Hospital  was  moved  yesterday,  the  Drum  Corps  were 
deployed  as  skirmishers  and  sent  through  the  woods  to  look 
for  blankets  and  shelter  tents  with  which  they  returned  loaded. 
The  2nd  Corps  also  picked  up  an  immense  number  of  blankets. 
8  A.M.  Dr.  Milhau  reports  that  405  wounded  were  sent  yester- 
day to  Fredericksburg  with  6  medical  officers.  .  .  .  The 
Nelaton  probe  was  found  to  work  well  in  the  6th  Corps  Hospi- 
tal. .  .  .  Lieut.  Sinclair  of  the  Ambulance  Corps  wounded. 
Lieut.  Guthrie  also  wounded.  3  P.M.  A  thunder  shower  came 
up,  laying  the  dust  and  cooling  the  air  in  a  refreshing  manner. 
They  are  now  loading  the  wounded  rapidly.  .  .  .  Letter 
from  Surgeon  Pease  reporting  that  he  had  arrived  at  Freder- 
icksburg with  his  train  of  wounded  at  n  P.M.  A  train  of 
medical  and  hospital  supplies  has  just  been  received  from 
Belle  Plain.  Thousands  of  wounded  are  in  the  town,  thou- 
sands also  of  malingerers.  All  is  chaos  and  there  is  no  trace  of 
organization.  The  few  troops  there  are  terribly  afraid  of 
Stuart's  cavalry  and  stampeded  the  wagons  across  the  river, 
"but  Dr.  Pease  prevented  them.".  .  .  Col.  Schriver  has 
gone  down  to  organize  and  arrange  matters.  All  is  quiet  at 
headquarters  but  picket  firing  is  going  on  actively  directly  in 
front.  5  P.M.  The  Block  House  and  Alsop  road  is  to  be  kept 
clear  to-night.  Troops  are  being  withdrawn  from  our  right. 
All  the  wounded  going  to  Silver's  to-night  must  go  by  the 
Piney  Grove  Church  road.  ...  It  is  raining  hard  and  steadi- 
ly and  the  roads  are  very  muddy.  The  rain  is  dropping 
through  the  old  fly  under  which  I  am  sitting  in  a  very 
unpleasant  manner. 

[Hancock's  assault  on  the  McCool  salient.  (The  Bloody  Angle) .] 

May  12.  4  A.M.  Headquarters  camp  broken  up.  5  A.M. 
The  wagons  have  gone  and  the  staff  is  standing  around  waiting 
for  Genl.  Meade.  Artillery  firing  is  going  on  in  front  of  the 
right  and  shells  fall  not  very  far  from  us.  Several  thousand  of 
the  6th  Corps  are  massing  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  road  200 
yards  away.  It  is  very  damp  and  foggy.  We  can  see  but  a 
short  distance.  6  A.M.  The  2nd  Corps  is  now  strongly  en- 


His  Civil  "War  Experiences  85 

gaging  the  enemy.  6:15  A.M.  Genl.  Hancock  reports  that  he 
has  captured  Johnson's  Division,  2000  prisoners,  3  generals  and 
2  batteries.  6:30  A.M.  Ambulances  are  passing  rapidly  to 
the  front.  8  A.M.  The  engagement  has  become  general.  I 
rode  out  to  find  the  6th  Corps  Hospital,  met  Dr.  Holman.1 
He  says  they  have  been  travelling  all  night,  having  taken  a 
wrong  road — are  only  just  come  up.  .  .  .  The  roads  are  in  ter- 
rible condition.  One  division  of  the  6th  Corps  sent  to  support 
the  2nd  Corps  is  just  going  into  action.  9.30  A.M.  Wounded 
are  rapidly  being  brought  into  the  5th  Corps  Hospital, 
especially  into  the  1st  Division,  which  was  speedily  filled. 
Some  shelter  was  provided  by  clearing  out  the  barns  nearby 
and  some  was  made  of  planks  obtained  from  an  old  sawmill. 
It  was  raining  heavily  all  the  time  and  the  wounded  were 
chilly  and  faint.  Stimulants  were  used  freely.  The  supply  of 
blankets  ran  short,  as  every  man  had  lost  his  wet  blanket  and 
wanted  a  dry  one.  ...  10  A.M.  Rode  to  the  6th  Corps  Hos- 
pitals and  found  them  rapidly  filling  up.  As  they  were  just 
pitched  the  ground  was  very  wet. 

1 1 130  A.M.  Artillery  firing  is  now  going  on  in  front  of  the 
2nd  Corps.  Zouave  Brigade  of  the  ist  Division,  5th  Corps  have 
lost  very  heavily.  This  may  be  due  to  their  costume,  having 
red  and  yellow  scrolls  on  the  breast,  making  their  approach 
through  shrubbery  more  perceptible.  Received  2  letters  from 
Kate  informing  me  that  Genl.  Stevens  is  dead.  .  .  .  Letter 
received  from  Surgeon  General  stating  that  30  medical  officers 
have  been  sent.  8  P.M.  Dr.  Milhau  reports  that  820  wounded 
are  in  his  Hospital  under  shelter,  many  of  them  severe  cases, 
some  wounded  with  grape.  20  Rebels  also  received.  Dr. 
Holman  states  that  he  has  about  600  wounded.  Reserve 
trains  have  been  moved  to  Tabernacle  Church.  Our  rations 
are  entirely  out. 

(Letter.)  May  12.  n  A.M.  We  have  been  doing  some 
big  fighting  to-day,  commencing  with  daybreak  and  they  are 

1  Silas  A.  Holman,  surgeon,  United  States  Volunteers,  Medical  Division, 
6th  Corps. 


86  JoKn  SHaw  Billings 

still  at  it.  We  have  beaten  them  very  badly  and  propose  to 
give  them  some  more  of  the  same  kind.  It  has  been  raining 
hard  all  day  and  all  last  night — the  roads  are  in  frightful 
condition.  I  am  well  and  have  escaped  even  a  graze.  I  have 
only  been  exposed  to  fire  three  or  four  times  during  the  whole 
battle.  I  have  done  a  great  deal  of  work  within  the  last  eight 
days  and  have  learned  many,  very  many,  things.  I  have  been 
everywhere  and  seen  everything  and  have  a  large  note-book 
full  of  the  memoranda  which  I  make  as  I  go  about,  which  note- 
book will  be  a  very  interesting  thing  for  you  one  of  these  days. 

(Note-book.)  May  13.  7  A.M.  Report  received  from  Dr. 
Smart1  that  1820  wounded  were  received  into  the  Hospital  of 
the  2nd  Corps  yesterday  and  were  all  cared  for.  Order  issued 
that  the  wounded  be  sent  to  Fredericksburg  to-day  if  wagons 
and  ambulances  can  be  collected.  One  day's  rations  to  be 
sent.  ...  I  sent  an  order  to  Dr.  Pease2  to  send  back  all  the 
cavalry  ambulances.  Sent  all  the  headquarter  spring  wagons 
to  report  to  Dr.  Dougherty.  Sent  Steward  McFarland  to  the 
train  for  blankets,  etc.  Sent  letter  to  Surgeon  General  notify- 
ing him  of  the  present  status  of  things.  Order  received  from 
Genl.  Meade  that  all  staff  officers  must  be  always  ready  to 
march  at  daybreak.  Rode  with  Dr.  Ghiselin3  to  the  5th  Corps 
Hospitals ;  found  that  they  had  been  ordered  at  two  this  morn- 
ing to  load  up  their  wounded  and  after  keeping  them  2  hours 
in  the  ambulances  in  the  cold  grey  of  the  morning,  the  order 
was  rescinded  and  they  are  now  unloaded.  Much  suffering 
resulted  from  this.  Saw  Capt.  Lowe4  of  the  nth — made  him 
as  comfortable  as  I  could.  Corporal  A.  R.  Munro,  Co.  B,  I  ith 
U.  S.  Infantry;  gunshot  wound  of  left  elbow  joint;  removed 
condyles  of  humerus  with  chain  saw,  also  the  upper  i^  inch 
of  the  [fore]  arm.  10  A.M.  Dr.  Holman  reports  that  he  has 
1 200  wounded  in  his  Hospital.  Capt.  Jones  A.  Q.  M.  who 

1  Charles  Smart,  Medical  Officer,  United  States  Army,  1864-1905. 
1  Roger  R.  Pease,  surgeon,  United  States  Volunteers,  Medical  Division, 
Cavalry  Corps. 

3  James  T.  Ghiselin,  Medical  Officer,  United  States  Army,  1854-74. 

4  William  B.  Lowe,  Captain,  nth  Infantry,  1861-64. 


His  Civil  "War  Experiences  87 

went  in  charge  of  the  first  train  of  wounded  reports  that  17 
ambulances  have  had  the  horses  taken  by  Mosby.  ...  4 
P.M.  Asst.  Surgeon  C.  Lee  arrived  with  dispatches  from  the 
Surgeon-General,  from  Surgeon  J.  H.  Brinton  and  from  Dr. 
Dalton.  Every  article  of  supply  which  can  possibly  be 
wanted  is  now  at  Fredericksburg,  except  stretchers  and  medi- 
cal officers.  Our  wounded  are  being  rapidly  brought  in  from 
the  Wilderness  and  supplies  have  been  sent  to  them.  Dalton 
thinks  there  are  about  1500  there.  .  .  .  Orders  for  march 
received.  5th  Corps  to  pass  to  left  and  get  on  the  Gale1  road. 
6th  Corps  to  go  to  the  Massaponax  Court  House  road.  Trains 
to  go  to  Salem  Church.  Attack  to  be  made  about  daylight  if 
possible. 

May  14.  Headquarters  moved  at  3  A.M.  It  has  been 
raining  all  of  the  morning  and  the  road  is  frightful.  Dr.  Mil- 
hau  says  at  4  A.M.  that  he  has  left  400  wounded  with  4  medical 
officers  and  the  greater  part  of  his  tents.  The  doctors  have 
been  working  all  night  and  the  whole  arrangement  is  stuck  in 
the  mud  about  %  of  a  mile  from  here.  7  A.M.  Genl.  Meade 
and  staff  are  now  at  what  is  called  the  Beverly  House  on  the 
Fredericksburg  and  Spottsylvania  road  about  2  miles  from 
Spottsylvania  Court  House.  It  is  a  large  frame  house  with  a 
portico  facing  southwest,  looking  over  a  broad  valley,  in  which 
the  troops  are  now  formed  in  line  of  battle.  About  2  miles 
distant  south  by  west  is  another  large  house,  where  the  Rebel 
pickets  are  and  also  a  section  of  artillery  which  is  now  playing 
on  our  cavalry.  We  rode  over  with  Genl.  Patrick,  following 
the  telegraph  wire.  Wagons  and  artillery  crowd  the  road  and 
are  mired  in  many  places,  mud  being  over  the  hub  in  some 
places.  We  passed  several  wagons  filled  with  wounded  which 
were  stuck  fast.  9  A.M.  Genl.  Grant  and  staff  have  just 
arrived.  .  .  .  10:15  P-M-  Dr.  Milhau  telegraphs  that  he  is 
informed  by  Genl.  Hancock  that  the  Rebels  entered  the  5th 
Corps  Hospital  this  evening  and  carried  off  all  attendants  who 
had  no  badges.  270  wounded  left  in  hospital.  Answered: 

1  Given  in  Gilmer's  (C.  S.  A.)  map  as  "Gayle. " 


88  JoHn  SHaw   Billings 

That  he  is  to  send  to-night  his  ambulances  and  temporarily 
emptied  army  wagons  and  remove  his  wounded  before  the 
guard  is  taken  away.  (One  regiment  has  been  sent  there  by 
Genl.  Hancock.) 

May  15.  i  A.M.  Dr.  Milhau  replied  that  his  ambulance  train 
is  4  miles  back  and  that  he  cannot  bring  away  the  wounded 
to-night....  Gloomy  morning  and  cold.  8  P.M.  No  movements 
of  the  army  have  taken  place  to-day.  It  rained  heavily  during 
this  afternoon.  Our  reserve  wagons  came  up  this  evening 
and  we  proceeded  to  make  ourselves  comfortable.  .  .  . 

May  16.  9  A.M.  All  is  quiet  this  morning.  Genl.  Williams 
said  in  passing  by  that  J.  E.  B.  Stuart  is  killed.  .  .  .  Pvt. 
Benj.  Turner,  Co.  "G,"  iQth  Ind.,  4ist  Div.,  5th  Corps,  was 
taken  on  the  5th  of  May.  Went  to  a  hospital  on  the  turn- 
pike 2  miles  east  of  Robinson's  Tavern.  A  small  house,  hos- 
pital, and  wall  tents  and  flies  were  up,  30  or  40.  About  250 
of  our  wounded  are  there,  all  of  the  Rebel  wounded  were 
taken  off,  our  wounded  were  cared  for.  Two  Rebel  sur- 
geons were  left  with  our  wounded;  flour,  corn  meal  were 
left  with  them.  On  the  I3th  hard  bread,  coffee,  and  sugar, 
and  fresh  beef  and  tents  were  brought  to  them  by  a  flag  of 
truce.  Two  of  our  doctors  are  there  now.  He  left  there  the 
night  of  the  I3th.  Some  of  our  wounded  are  reported  as  being 
at  Robinson's  Tavern;  15  attendants  are  there.  The  Rebels 
left  two  tents.  Our  dead  have  been  buried.  Col.  Mansfield 
of  the  2nd  Wisconsin  is  there,  also  i  Major.  14  qt.  kettle  to 
cook  for  150  men.  Some  hogs  were  killed  which  enabled  them 
to  get  along.  Few  or  no  dressings  were  on  hand.  Anaesthetics 
were  used  by  the  Rebel  surgeons.  The  wounds  were  doing  well. 
2  P.M.  Arrangements  are  being  made  to  send  for  all  the 
wounded  left  at  Cossins  and  other  points.  General  Gibbon 
with  his  Brigade  goes  to  superintend  the  affair.  I  sent  all  the 
headquarters  spring  wagons.  Over  200  ambulances  were  sent 
and  50  army  wagons.  .  .  .  Genl.  Meade  states  that  the 
Aquia  Creek  R.  R.  will  be  open  in  12  days.  9  P.M.  No 
fighting  to-day. 


His  Civil  "War  Experiences  89 

(Letter)  May  16.  9  A.M.  Near  Spottsylvania  Court 
House,  Virginia.  It  is  very  quiet  this  morning,  not  a  gun 
having  been  fired  yet.  .  .  .  Yesterday  and  to-day  the  Army 
has  been  resting,  being  almost  exhausted  by  fighting  and 
struggling  through  the  mud  and  rain.  We  have  sent  about 
18,000  wounded  off.  I  am  sitting  now  by  a  big  fire  in  front  of 
Dr.  McParlin's  tent.  A  dense  fog  is  covering  everything,  just 
in  front  of  me  is  a  narrow  strip  of  dense  woods  and  in  front  of 
that  are  our  batteries,  posted  along  the  crest  of  hills  which 
command  the  Ny  River,  distant  about  half  a  mile.  Dr.  Mc- 
Parlin  will  do  almost  anything  I  ask  of  him.  While  we  are 
resting,  I  am  writing  up  my  records.  I  enclose  in  this  letter  a 
bunch  of  violets  which  I  picked  close  by  where  Genl.  Sedgwick 
was  killed.  Very  many  of  my  old  friends  have  been  killed 
and  wounded  but  none  that  you  know  I  believe,  except  Cap- 
tain Brightly1  of  the  4th,  who  was  wounded  but  not  severely. 
I  suppose  we  are  going  to  move  to-night  or  to-morrow. 

(Note-book,)  May  17.  8  A.M.  Dr.  McParlin  rode  to 
Fredericksburg  this  morning.  Report  of  Dr.  Phelps  for  the 
1 6th  instant  received  at  5  P.M.  .  .  .  He  reports  that  the  field 
surgery  of  the  battle  is  of  a  high  order.  388  crossed  the  pon- 
toon bridge  to-day.  There  are  now  in  the  hospitals  6934 
patients.  Erysipelas  is  beginning  to  make  its  appearance. 
Note  from  Dr.  Cuyler2  to  Dr.  Phelps3  transmitted,  stating 
that  since  he  came  to  Belle  Plain,  he  has  been  shipping  over 
1500  per  day;  that  they  arrive  in  very  bad  condition  owing  to 
the  very  bad  road  between  Fredericksburg  and  Belle  Plain. 
.  .  .  Dr.  Jones4  died  on  the  evening  of  the  I4th.  The  morn- 
ing is  damp  and  cool.  9:30  A.M.  Headquarters  ordered  to 
break  camp  and  move  to  the  Anderson  House.  .  .  .  Rode 
to  the  2nd  and  6th  Corps  Hospitals,  which  are  west  of  the  pike 
and  north  of  the  Massaponax  Church  Road.  Rode  up  to  the 

1  Charles  H.  Brightly,  Captain,  4th  Infantry. 
3  John  M.  Cuyler,  Medical  Officer,  United  States  Army,  1834-82. 
s  Alonzo  J.  Phelps,  surgeon,  United  States  Volunteers,  inspector  at  field 
base. 

«  Thomas  Jones,  surgeon,  8th  Pennsylvania  Reserves. 


9O  JoHn.  SHaw  Billings 

Anderson  House  and  found  the  staff  there.  Rode  back  to  5th 
Corps  Hospital,  which  is  between  our  headquarters  of  last 
night  and  the  Beverly  House,  in  a  little  open  space  in  the 
woods.  The  enemy's  works  can  be  plainly  seen  through  an 
open  space  in  the  trees  across  the  river.  Dr.  Holman  moved 
his  Hospital  to  the  Anderson  House  on  the  I4th  but  was  shelled 
out,  losing  several  mules  and  one  driver.  Rode  back  and 
found  headquarters  established  in  the  edge  of  the  woods.  .  .  . 
The  red  breeches1  are  now  (2  P.M.)  busily  engaged  in  pitching 
tents  and  clearing  the  ground. 

May  1 8.  Headquarters  broke  camp  at  4  A.M.  and  moved  to 
what  is  known  as  the  Deserted  House.  The  2nd  Corps  engaged 
the  enemy  about  daylight.  2nd  and  6th  Corps  Hospitals  were 
broken  up  last  night  and  the  wagons  and  ambulances  were  in 
train  ready  to  move  at  5  A.M.  The  roads  were  full  of  deep  ruts 
of  miry  and  tenacious  clay  making  movement  very  difficult. 
A  few  shells  were  thrown  into  the  vicinity  of  the  5th  Corps 
Hospital.  At  9  A.M.,  Genl.  Meade  expressed  a  wish  that  all  of 
the  Hospitals  should  be  on  the  east  side  of  the  Spottsylvania 
and  Fredericksburg  turnpike.  The  2nd  Corps  Hospital  had  by 
this  time  got  almost  up  to  the  Deserted  House.  I  rode  to  all 
the  Hospitals  giving  them  the  necessary  directions.  The 
Deserted  House  is  now  merely  a  chimney  and  a  wall  on  a  high 
knoll  which  commands  a  very  good  view  across  the  Ny  River. 
One  battery  of  Parrott  guns  is  planted  by  its  side.  The  staff 
are  sleeping  around  on  the  ground.  I  P.M.  Report  received 
from  Surgeon  Phelps  (for  the  I7th)  that  6776  wounded  are 
now  in  Fredericksburg.  The  day  is  warm  and  pleasant.  4  P.M. 
Rode  with  Dr.  Ghiselin  to  the  6th  and  2nd  Corps  Hospitals, 
found  that  they  were  rapidly  sending  off  wounded  to  Fred- 
ericksburg. Dr.  Asch2  and  myself  now  occupy  one  tent. 

(Letter)  May  18.  i  P.M.  We  have  had  a  little  fight  this 
morning,  losing  about  300  men.  I  was  up  at  3  o'clock  A.M. 
and  have  been  riding  about  the  country  until  about  an  hour 

1  New  York  Volunteers  (Zouaves). 

*  Morris  J.  Asch,  Medical  Officer,  United  States  Army,  1861-73. 


His  Civil  "War  Experiences  91 

ago,  moving  the  hospitals  and  hunting  up  information.  Head- 
quarters during  the  forenoon  was  at  a  spot  called  the  Deserted 
House,  one  of  the  most  desolate  places  I  ever  saw.  Just  a 
chimney  and  one  wall  remaining  of  what  had  been  a  most 
beautiful  Virginia  mansion,  a  battery  planted  right  among  the 
ashes,  and  silent  woods  all  around.  Artillery  firing  is  still 
going  on  at  spasmodic  intervals  but  the  fighting  seems  to  be 
over,  though  there  is  no  saying  what  an  hour  may  bring  forth. 

[EweWs  attack  on  Tyler's  Division.] 

(Note-book)  May  19.  Cloudy  morning.  .  .  .  Our  wagons 
are  again  sent  to  the  rear  to-day.  4  P.M.  Thus  far  it 
has  been  sunny  and  pleasant — no  fighting.  Capt.  Parker, 
A.  A.  G.  on  Genl.  Grant's  staff  informed  me  this  morning  that 
Genl.  Grant  had  sent  a  letter  to  the  commanding  officer  of 
the  Confederate  forces,  to  be  sent  by  flag  of  truce,  requesting 
that  our  wounded  who  are  now  in  the  Wilderness  be  given  up, 
and  stating  that  the  Confederate  wounded  would  be  given  up 
at  Chancellorsville  if  it  was  desired.  5  P.M.  Just  as  we  were 
eating  dinner,  we  were  surprised  by  a  rattle  of  musketry  on  the 
turnpike  just  behind  us.  In  a  moment  more  Genl.  Grant 
passed  quickly  by  the  open  fly  in  which  we  were  sitting  and 
joined  Genl.  Meade.  After  a  moment's  consultation,  the 
2nd  Corps  was  ordered  to  move  to  the  right.  Everyone  had 
their  horses  saddled.  After  waiting  15  minutes  and  learning 
nothing,  I  got  on  my  horse  and  rode  out  to  the  turnpike.  The 
2nd  Corps  were  forming  line  of  battle  a  hundred  yards  beyond. 
After  waiting  a  little  I  came  back  and  learned  that  E well's 
Corps  had  crossed  the  Ny  River  near  the  Deserted  House, 
came  up  by  the  Harris  House,  and  made  an  attack  on  the  wagon 
train  which,  contrary  to  orders,  was  moving  down  the  pike. 

(Letter.)  Last  night  about  5  P.M.,  just  as  we  were  sitting 
down  to  dinner  which  consisted  of  a  piece  of  beef,  hard  bread 
and  coffee,  we  were  very  much  surprised  by  hearing  the  rattle 
of  musketry  behind  us  in  just  the  last  position  at  which  we 
should  have  expected  it.  Quite  a  little  excitement  about 


92  JoHn  SKa-w  Billings 

Headquarters  and  loud  calls  were  made  for  horses  and  orderlies. 
It  turned  out  that  the  Rebs  had  come  around  our  right  flank 
and  attacked  our  wagon  train.  They  were  soon  beaten  off, 
but  we  had  1000  wounded  in  the  scrimmage.  This  was  owing 
to  the  fact  that  our  troops  engaged  were  the  heavy  artillery 
regiments,  who  had  never  seen  any  field  service,  and  they  fired 
into  each  other. 

(Note-book)  May  20.  Genl.  Hancock  and  staff  remained 
here  last  night.  Was  roused  at  3  A.M.,  got  up  chilly  and  with 
much  pain  in  the  chest — no  one  else  up.  Morning  report  from 
Fredericksburg  (May  19),  6721  wounded,  821  sick.  Saw  four 
veterans  last  night  belonging  to  the  6th  Corps  who  are  just 
returning  from  furlough.  One  was  wounded  and  the  rest  were 
carrying  him.  ...  A  very  scurrilous  and  utterly  false  article 
appeared  in  yesterday's  Chronicle — that  the  wounded  in 
Fredericksburg  were  entirely  destitute  of  supplies,  even  food; 
also  that  the  negroes  fought  desperately.  All  this  is  false. 
The  negroes  have  not  yet  fought,  except  in  a  slight  skirmish 
with  Rosser's  cavalry.  656  wounded  received  last  night  at 
the  2nd  Corps  Hospital.  A  very  large  number  of  these  were 
wounded  by  their  comrades, J  the  wounds  being  blackened  with 
powder  and  mostly  in  the  fingers  and  arms.  The  surgeons 
had  brought  no  instruments,  not  even  pocket  cases  in  most 
instances.  Almost  every  man  when  he  came  in  from  the  field 
had  an  improvised  tourniquet  on  of  a  twisted  handkerchief 
etc.,  and  much  pain  and  inconvenience  resulted  in  many  cases. 
406  wounded  received  in  5th  Corps  Hospital  yesterday  of 
which  number  150  belong  to  2nd  Corps.  .  .  .  Day  warm  and 
sunny.  Dr.  Schiff,  captured  Rebel  surgeon,  was  in  the  tent  for 
a  little  while  to-day.  8  P.M.  No  fighting  to-day.  Notice  re- 
ceived from  Genl.  Ingalls  that  the  Rappahannock  River  is  now 
free  from  obstructions  as  far  as  Fredericksburg.  Notified  the 
Surgeon  General  of  this  fact  per  telegraph  at  4  P.M.  and  requested 
that  immediate  measures  be  taken  to  remove  the  wounded. 
Six  feet  draught  boats  can  come  up.  I  have  been  very  unwell  all 
day,  suffering  much  pain,  and  shall  sleep  in  the  wagon  to-night. 

1  Probably  self -mutilation  by  raw  troops  for  malingering  purposes. 


His  Civil  "War  Experiences  93 

[Advance  by  the  left  flank.] 

May  21.  Headquarters  broke  camp  at  6A.M.  The  wagons 
were  sent  off  and  the  staff  remained  lounging  under  the  trees. 
Skirmish  firing  going  on  in  the  direction  of  the  Beverley  House. 
8  A.M.  Dispatch  received  by  Genl.  Ingalls  from  Genl.  Meigs 
stating  that  steamboats  and  covered  barges  had  been  started  to 
Fredericksburg  to  carry  off  the  wounded.  Two  large  steamers 
are  to  be  at  Tappahannock  to  be  loaded  from  the  lighter  ves- 
sels. All  the  wounded  are  to  be  taken  away  even  if  it  crowds 
the  vessels.  Cavalry  posted  on  the  bluffs  from  Port  Royal 
to  Fredericksburg  to  cover  the  movement.  10  A.M.  Head- 
quarters moved  to  Massaponax  Church.  The  staff  are  seated 
in  front  of  the  church,  in  the  shade  of  three  or  four  large  trees, 
upon  the  seats  brought  out  from  the  church,  which  have  been 
placed  so  as  to  form  a  hollow  square.  Photographer  has  his 
tube  levelled  at  the  group  from  the  top  of  one  of  the  windows 
of  the  church.  .  .  .  The  5th  Corps  ambulances  are  passing  by. 
12  M.  Rode  to  Guiney's  Station,  passing  the  5th  Corps  on  the 
road.  Stopped  at  Motley's  House,  y£  mile  N.  W.  of  the  station 
and  sent  the  cavalry  escort  ahead  to  clear  out  some  guerillas 
who  were  in  a  belt  of  woods  just  across  the  valley.  The  staff 
lay  around  in  an  orchard  on  a  hill  which  overlooked  the  whole 
valley.  The  cavalry  did  not  have  much  of  a  fight  however. 
Headquarters  camp  was  pitched  just  back  of  Motley's  house 
on  the  edge  of  a  little  belt  of  pine  woods.  The  day  was  hot, 
the  roads  dusty.  I  am  to-night  unable  to  move  except  very 
slowly  and  then  it  produces  very  great  pain.  Dr.  McParlin 
received  a  private  note  from  the  Surgeon  General  to-day, 
stating  that  between  17  and  18  thousand  have  been  received 
in  Washington.  They  are  using  army  wagons  for  carrying 
wounded  there  now. 

(Letter)  May  21.  6  P.M.  Near  Guiney's  Station,  Va. 
We  have  moved  away  from  the  vicinity  of  Spottsylvania  and 
have  crossed  the  Fredericksburg  and  Richmond  railroad  to- 
day, making  a  long,  hot,  and  dusty  march.  I  have  been  suffer- 
ing great  pain  in  my  back  to-day  and  yesterday  and  am  not 


94  JoKn  SHaw  Billings 

able  to  ride  now  or  to  stand  up  straight.  I  hope  it  will  pass  off 
to-night.  There  was  no  fighting  to-day  until  half  an  hour  ago, 
since  which  time  heavy  artillery  firing  has  been  heard  off  in 
the  direction  in  which  Burnside  is  lying. 

(Note-book.)  May  22.  Headquarter  wagons  ordered  to 
move  [at  12  M.  ...  My  back  is  so  bad  that  I  cannot  ride  on 
horseback  to-day  and  I  am  lying  in  Genl.  Ingalls"  wagon. 
Sent  off  Bradley  last  night  for  insolence  and  got  one  named 
Thomas  Dyron,  Co.  K.,  3rd  Pa.  Cav.  .  .  .  Headquarters 
went  into  camp  at  5  P.M.  in  a  large  clover  meadow  S.  W.  of 
Mr.  Stiles'  House,  ]/2  mile  from  New  Bethel  Church.  Railroad 
opened  to-day  from  Aquia  Creek  to  Falmouth.  ...  7  P.M. 
Letter  received  from  Dr.  Breneman  stating  that  600  of  our 
wounded  remain  in  the  Wilderness — that  he  went  out  on  the 
1 8th  but  Genl.  Grant's  letter  was  refused  because  it  was  not 
addressed  to  Genl.  Lee. 

[Battle  of  the  North  Anna.] 

May  23.  Headquarters  ordered  to  move  at  7  A.M.  and 
follow  the  9th  Corps.  The  army  is  ordered  to  move  at  5  A.M. 
sending  out  cavalry  and  infantry  to  find  the  enemy.  The 
trains  are  to  move  to  Milford  Station.  .  .  .  Up  to  the  evening 
of  the  1 8th,  14,878  wounded  have  been  received  at  Washington 
of  which  899  were  officers.  About  1000  additional  received 
between  the  i8th  and  2Oth.  600  malingerers  came  up  with  the 
wounded  and  were  turned  over  to  the  Provost  Marshal.  .  .  . 
Headquarters  rode  by  New  Bethel  Church  and  halted  on  a 
green  lawn  in  front  of  a  large  white  house.  At  12  we  came  to 
an  old  tobacco  factory  on  a  road  four  miles  from  the  river 
connecting  the  telegraph  roads.  A  Mrs.  Goodwin  lived  in  the 
house  and  three  pretty  girls.  She  said  she  had  no  one  in  this 
fight  and  begged  to  be  allowed  to  keep  an  old  horse  which  she 
had.  Rode  about  a  mile  and  found  Genl.  Grant  at  the  Mon- 
cure  House  stretched  out  on  the  grassy  lawn  under  one  of  the 
biggest,  knobbedest,  crooked  and  hump-backed  old  catalpa 
trees  that  ever  was  seen.  The  2nd  Corps  train  is  passing  in 


His  Civil  "War  Experiences  95 

front  of  the  house.  3  P.M.  Burnside's  command  is  now 
passing.  Genl.  Grant  issued  an  order  to  Genl.  Abercrombie 
to  go  out  and  bring  in  the  wounded  from  the  wilderness  vi  et 
armis.  6  P.M.  Took  lunch  with  Genl.  Grant's  staff.  Very 
heavy  firing  is  now  going  on  south,  both  artillery  and  musketry. 
Warren  is  across  the  river.  Hancock  not.  Rode  with  Dr. 
Du  Bois  over  to  the  old  Telegraph  Road  to  find  the  5th  Corps. 
Found  the  6th  Corps  after  riding  5  miles.  As  it  was  quite 
dark  and  the  road  jammed  with  troops  and  trains,  turned  and 
came  back  at  a  swinging  trot  through  the  woods,  seeing 
guerillas  every  dozen  yards.  Found  headquarters  had  gone 
into  camp  on  the  new  Telegraph  Road,  ^  mile  north  of  where 
it  lay  during  the  afternoon.  Made  calculation  of  the  total 
number  wounded  up  to  this  date,  amounting  to  21,684. 

May  24.  Headquarters  ordered  to  move  to  the  front  at  5 
A.M.  Morning  cool,  damp  and  foggy.  Moved  to  the  Mount 
Carmel  Church,  a  distance  of  i>£  miles  at  the  forks  of  the 
Telegraph  Roads.  8  A.M.  The  staff  are  now  seated  around 
in  the  church.  Generals  Grant,  Meade,  Humphreys,  Williams, 
Torbert,  Hunt,  Ingalls,  Rawlins,  Col.  Wilson,  Burton,  Bab- 
cock  etc.,  present.  Cavalry  Corps  heard  from  on  our  left — • 
they  crossed  at  the  White  House.  Circular  sent  to  Medical 
Directors  to  send  wounded  to  Fredericksburg  in  army  wagons. 
Dr.  Dalton  is  directed  to  return  all  the  ambulances  in  Fred- 
ericksburg to  this  army.  .  .  .  The  Hospital  is  I  mile  from 
Carmel  Church  on  the  left  of  the  road  running  S.  E.  .  .  .  The 
fight  of  the  5th  Corps  yesterday  evening  was  an  attack  by  the 
enemy  who  had  to  cross  an  open  space,  our  troops  being  in 
the  woods.  I  rode  with  Dr.  Ghiselin  to  the  5th  Corps  hospital 
and  got  a  glass  of  lemonade  and  half  a  can  of  peaches.  The  6th 
Corps  Hospitals  are  not  pitched.  The  trains  are  parked  along 
the  edge  of  the  river.  Headquarters  moved  across  the  river 
by  Jericho  Mill,  a  pontoon  bridge  having  been  thrown  across 
just  above  the  mills.  The  banks  of  the  river  are  very  high  and 
almost  perpendicular,  the  bed  of  the  stream  is  very  rocky  and 
irregular,  forming  pools  and  cascades  every  few  yards.  5  P.M. 
They  are  now  beginning  to  pitch  headquarters  camp  on  the 


96  JoHn  SHaw  Billing's 


hill  by  the  river  side,  J4  n^6  east  °f  the  bridge.  Picket  firing 
is  going  on  about  1500  yards  in  front  of  us  and  in  plain  sight. 
The  camp  is  partly  on  a  road  and  is  very  dusty.  At  6  P.M.  a 
very  heavy  thunder  storm  passed  by,  one  very  sharp  discharge 
occurring  about  100  yards  from  camp.  There  is  too  much 
moving  of  moribund  cases  through  mistaken  kindness. 

(Letter)  May  24.  9  A.M.  Near  North  Anna  River,  Va. 
Headquarters  have  been  travelling  about  at  a  tremendous  rate 
for  the  last  three  or  four  days.  We  are  now  very  comfortably 
sitting  and  lying  around  in  an  old-fashioned  Virginia  church 
near  Jericho  Bridge  on  the  North  Anna  River.  We  have  had 
but  little  fighting  since  I  last  wrote  until  last  night,  when  a 
sharp  skirmish  occurred  with  the  5th  Corps,  which  is  now 
across  the  river.  The  2nd  Corps  was  also  in  a  little,  losing  150 
men.  The  general  idea  is  that  the  Rebs  are  falling  back  —  we 
are  only  34  miles  from  Richmond  now.  I  am  getting  along 
very  well  —  had  some  trouble  with  my  back  but  that  is  better 
now. 

(Note-book).  May  25.  6  A.M.  Sky  clear,  air  cool,  very 
pleasant.  Batteries  are  sliding  along  over  the  hill. 

(Letter)  7  A.M.  Headquarters  are  now  on  the  south  bank 
of  the  North  Anna  River,  about  3  miles  from  Hanover  Junction. 
There  was  a  great  deal  of  skirmishing  and  artillery  firing 
yesterday  but  no  battle.  Our  line  is  advancing. 

(Note-book)  7  A.M.  Order  received  that  the  9th  Corps  report 
as  a  part  of  the  Army  of  the  Potomac.  Closed  our  mess  to-day 
and  entered  Genl.  Hunt's  mess.  Headquarters  ordered  to 
break  camp  and  move  to  Quarles  Mills  at  2  P.M.  5  P.M. 
Dr.  McDonald,1  Medical  Director  9th  Corps  reported. 

May  26.  Raining  heavily.  At  10  A.M.  rode  to  headquar- 
ters 9th  Corps.  .  .  .  Orders  were  issued  at  10  A.M.  for  the 

'John  E.  McDonald,  Surgeon,  United  States  Volunteers,  Medical 
Director,  Qth  Corps. 


His  Civil  War  Experiences  97 

movement  of  the  Army  to  the  left  along  the  Pamunkey.  Met 
Lieut.  Crowley1  on  my  way  back.  He  told  me  that  one  brigade 
lost  their  colours  in  the  charge.  Heavy  rain  at  6  P.M.  Took 
a  scalding  hot  bath  and  felt  better. 

May  27.  Headquarters  broke  camp  at  3  A.M.  Moved  past 
Burnside's,  Hancock's  and  Wright's  headquarters  and,  passing 
Chesterfield  Station,  went  about  17  miles  down  the  broad 
direct  road  and  went  into  camp  at  5  P.M.  near  Munyochunk 
Church.  At  least  150  dead  horses  were  lying  along  the  road  in 
every  stage  of  decomposition.  .  .  .  Just  as  we  left  camp  this 
morning,  the  Rebel  skirmishers  came  down  to  the  opposite 
bank  of  the  river,  fired  into  the  telegraph  wagons  etc. 

[Grant  crosses  the  Pamunkey  River.] 

May  28.  Headquarters  ordered  to  move  at  7  A.M.  Passed 
the  6th  Corps  wagon  train,  crossed  the  Pamunkey  at  Huntley's 
Mills  on  a  canvas  pontoon  bridge  and  are  now  (12  M.)  on  a 
most  beautiful  lawn  in  front  of  Newton's  house.  .  .  .  Day  hot 
and  dusty.  Found  19  wounded  of  the  Cavalry  Corps  in  the 
negro  quarters  back  of  the  house.  Dr.  McGuigan  in  charge. 
3  P.M.  The  cavalry  are  now  having  a  little  fight  in  the  vicinity 
of  Haw's  Shop  and  the  wounded  are  beginning  to  come  in. 
It  was  found  best  to  occupy  Mrs.  Newton's  parlours  for  a 
hospital  and  before  I  came  away,  75  had  been  brought  in,  some 
very  severe  cases  of  shell  wound  amongst  them.  No  supplies 
were  on  hand.  The  6th  Corps  are  across  the  river  and  passing 
to  the  right.  The  5th  Corps  in  front  of  Mrs.  Newton's  house, 
the  gth  Corps  not  yet  across,  the  general  train  is  opposite 
Dunkirk.  .  .  .  Have  not  been  well  to-day. 

May  29.  Sunday:  a  calm,  sunny  morning.  .  .  .  Dr.  Mil- 
hau  reports  225  wounded  cavalry  and  35  Rebels  in  the  hospital. 
...  30  regimental  medical  officers  sent  to  the  front.  About 
80  wounded  are  supposed  to  be  accessible  in  the  Wilderness  and 
have  been  sent  for.  Steamer  George  Weems  is  now  lying  at 
the  wharf  ready  to  receive  them.  .  .  .  The  cavalry  moved  off 

1  Samuel  T.  Crowley,  Lieutenant,  4th  Infantry,  1862-66. 


98  JoHn  SHaw  Billings 

to  the  left  to-day.  A  reconnoissance  found  the  enemy  in  line 
of  battle  beyond  Hanover  Court  House.  No  fighting — warm 
and  pleasant  all  day. 

(Letter)  May  29.  12  M.  We  are  now  south  of  the  Father 
of  all  the  Monkeys — otherwise  Pamunkey — 18  miles  from 
White  House  and  the  same  from  Richmond.  We  have  camped 
on  a  marshy  sort  of  flat  ground,  not  very  far  from  the  river 
and,  it  being  Sunday,  no  movements  of  importance  are  going 
on.  The  army  will  advance  a  little  in  an  hour  to  see  where  Lee 
is.  Last  night  the  cavalry  had  a  pretty  sharp  fight  near  here, 
losing  about  400  men.  The  last  two  days  we  have  been  on  the 
march  almost  all  the  time  and  men  and  horses  are  pretty  well 
used  up.  ...  In  two  or  three  days  more,  I  suppose,  we  shall 
be  on  the  Chickahominy  and  taking  McClellan's  campaign 
over  again.  ...  I  enclose  you  some  honeysuckle  from  the 
bank  of  the  Pamunkey.  I  believe  all  will  prove  for  the  best 
for  us  in  the  end  and  that  both  you  and  I  in  years  to  come  will 
be  glad  and  proud  that  I  was  in  this  campaign. 

[Early' s  assault  at  the  Totopotomoy  Creek.] 

(Note-book)  May  30.  Headquarters  moves  at  7  A.M. 
Have  been  quite  ill  all  night  and  am  in  a  rather  bad  way  this 
morning — am  now  taking  morphine  and  soda.  Moved  to 
Haw's  Shop.  6  P.M.  Heavy  firing  in  front  of  2nd  and  6th 
Corps. 

[Cavalry  engagement  at  Cold  Harbour.] 

May  31.  A  pleasant  morning.  .  .  .  The  6th  Corps  are  now 
on  the  right  extending  toward  Hanover  Court  House,  the  2nd 
Corps  next  lying  across  the  Haw's  Shop  and  Richmond  road ; 
the  6th  Corps  have  no  Hospital  established  as  yet.  It  is  an 
interesting  question  as  to  where  the  Cavalry  Corps  hospital  is. 
.  .  .  Firing  has  been  going  on  all  the  morning  in  front  of  the 
2nd  Corps.  Genl.  Smith  is  on  his  way  up  from  White  House 
with  reinforcements.  .  .  .  The  6th  Corps  moved  during  the 


His  Civil  "War  Experiences  99 

night  to  the  extreme  left,  going  into  position  near  Cold  Har- 
bour, where  the  cavalry  had  a  fight  to-day,  having  70  wounded. 

(Letter)  4  P.M.  Last  evening  and  this  morning  we  had  a 
respectable  little  fight,  and  by  the  way  the  skirmishers  have 
been  picking  at  each  other  for  the  last  fifteen  minutes,  I  sus- 
pect there  will  be  a  little  shindy  this  evening.  We  have  been 
using  artillery  a  good  deal  to-day  and  the  Coehorn  mortars — 
the  shell  firing  from  them  last  night  was  well  done  and  very 
pretty.  Our  communications  are  now  open  to  the  White 
House  and  to-morrow  morning  we  shall  send  about  1000 
wounded  there.  ...  I  am  the  dirtiest  roughest  man  you 
ever  saw — we  are  now  sitting  in  a  big  dust  hole  and  the  sun  is 
shining  as  if  he  intended  to  fricassee  the  whole  arrangement.  I 
think  we  shall  hold  4th  of  July  in  Richmond,  but  there  is  no 
telling.  Reinforcements  are  now  coming  up  to  us.  I  rather 
think  this  cruel  war  will  be  pretty  nearly  over  by  October.  .  .  . 
Everybody  is  very  good-natured,  considering  all  things,  and 
personally  this  has  not  been  a  disagreeable  campaign  to  me  at 
all,  though  I  get  terribly  weary  sometimes  and  getting  up  at 
3  in  the  morning  is  not  always  pleasant.  I  came  near  being 
perforated  yesterday  by  a  sharpshooter  who  devoted  his 
special  attention  to  me  for  a  few  minutes,  but  his  labours  were 
in  vain,  I  am  happy  to  say. 

(Note-book.)  June  i.  Headquarters  moved  at  7  A.M. 
Passing  by  Haw's  Shop  and  stopping  near  Vince's  House 
across  Totopotomoy  Creek  on  the  Shady  Grove  Church  Road. 
Rode  to  the  2nd  Corps  Hospitals  and  found  that  some  cases  of 
typho-malarial  fever  have  already  made  their  appearance. 
McGill  went  to  Cavalry  Corps — they  had  85  wounded  from 
battle  of  last  night  and  they  are  very  comfortable  in  an  old 
mill  on  the  Pamunkey  River.  Fighting  has  been  going  on  all 
the  afternoon — the  6th  Corps  endeavoring  to  connect  with  the 
5th.  .  .  .  Have  been  demoralized  all  day  with  colic.  Day 
hot,  sultry,  dust  awful.  Visited  a  very  old  woman  with  frac- 
ture of  neck  of  femur,  lying  helpless  in  basement  of  house. 
20  wounded  in  Cavalry  Corps  to-day. 


IOO  JoKn  SHaw  Billing's 

[First  assault  on  Cold  Harbour.} 

(Letter)  June  i.  Your  letter  of  the  26th  has  just  been 
handed  me  and  gives  me  a  very  clear  view  of  the  state  of 
things,  thereby  relieving  me  of  many  doubts  and  perplexities. 
.  .  .  You  must  remember  as  you  write  your  letters  how  I, 
away  down  in  these  Peninsular  swamps,  ponder  over  every 
sentence  of  yours  and  wonder  what  it  all  means.  .  .  .  Head- 
quarters are  now  near  Cold  Harbour,  not  a  great  way  from 
Gaines's  Mill.  It  is  fearfully  hot  and  dusty — we  had  a  series 
of  little  fights  yesterday — not  much  to-day  so  far.  Dr. 
Spencer  is  wrong  about  my  coming  to  Washington,  it  will  be 
utterly  impossible  within  a  month  and  I  do  not  know  that  I 
can  do  it  then  except  by  special  order  of  the  Surgeon  General. 
...  I  am  getting  tired  of  ham  and  hard  bread.  I  hope,  now 
that  communication  is  open  with  White  House,  that  our  larder 
will  be  a  little  better  supplied.  Genl.  Smith  came  up  this 
morning  with  18,000  fresh  troops — we  are  within  fourteen 
miles  of  Richmond  and  everything  looks  serene  and  jolly  in 
the  extreme. 

June  2.  4?.M.  Had  a  heavy  fight  last  night.  2000  wounded. 
We  are  now  near  Gaines's  Mill  battle  ground. 

(Note-book)  June  2.  Headquarters  moved  at  7  A.M.  I 
rode  at  5 130  A.M.  with  McGill.  .  .  .  Six  stretcher  bearers  and 
one  sergeant  killed  and  wounded.  Have  850  wounded  in  their 
hospitals  on  the  Cold  Harbour  and  Mechanicsville  Road,  ]/z 
mile  from  Cold  Harbour.  i8th  Corps  wounded  lying  out  with- 
out shelter  on  the  side  of  a  hill  100  yards  from  6th  Corps  head- 
quarters, which  is  %  mile  from  Cold  Harbour  at  Harris's  house. 
Dr.  Holman  tells  me  that  he  put  Dr.  Sharp  under  arrest  for 
neglect  of  25  of  the  wounded.  Two  of  his  artillery  ambulances 
were  shattered  by  shell.  He  has  ice  &  spring  water,  which  is 
eked  out  by  using  the  mush  water  for  washing  and  dressing 
wounds.  The  wounds  are  shell  and  musketry,  many  of  them 
severe;  20  cases  of  self-inflicted  wounds  of  hand  in  i8th  Corps; 
40  per  cent  will  probably  be  able  to  walk.  9  A.M.  The  2nd 


His  Civil  "War  Experiences  IOI 

Corps  headquarters  are  now  with  the  6th  and  the  troops  are 
passing  by  hid  in  clouds  of  dust;  they  have  between  300 
and  400  wounded  whom  they  bring  with  them  in  ambulances. 
Shelters  for  the  i8th  Corps  are  being  constructed  of  boughs, 
shelter  tents  and  blankets.  They  have  one  beef  and  250  gallons 
of  beef  stock  and  an  order  was  issued  by  Genl.  Wright  that 
they  should  draw  rations  from  any  6th  Corps  commissary  that 
they  can  find.  This  order  was  issued  last  night  and  they  have 
not  been  very  energetic  in  hunting  for  supplies  since  many  of 
their  men  have  not  been  fed  since  yesterday  morning.  Operat- 
ing is  going  on,  four  tables  going.  45  wounded  in  Cavalry 
Corps  to-day.  Rode  back  to  6th  Corps  hospital.  Drs.  Bland 
and  Taylor  told  me  that  a  number  of  men  wounded  yesterday 
were  wounded  by  our  own  artillery  which  was  too  far  to  the  rear. 
At  1 1  A.M.  orders  to  send  the  wounded  to  White  House  were 
received  at  the  Division  Hospital;  43  army  wagons  to  be  sent 
to  this  corps.  This  order  was  changed — a  commissary  issue 
is  to  be  made  to-night  and  the  wounded  to  be  sent  to-morrow 
morning.  Headquarters  went  into  camp  at  3  P.M.,  200  yards 
S.  E.  of  the  6th  Corps  hospitals.  McGill  has  gone  to  the  9th 
and  5th  Corps.  2nd  Corps  Hospital  not  established.  Order  to 
send  wounded  issued  at  4  P.M.  The  trains  are  to  rendezvous 
at  Anderson's.  It  began  to  rain  at  4  P.M.  and  has  gone  on 
steadily  ever  since.  McGill,  on  his  return,  reports  that  100 
wounded  were  received  into  the  Qth  Corps  Hospital;  that  the 
Rebels  broke  in  where  our  headquarters  were  this  morning  and 
cut  the  wires,  and  that  the  5th  Corps  Hospital  has  moved. 

[Second  Assault  on  Cold  Harbour.] 

(Letter)  June  3.  12  M.  Heavy  battle  this  morning.  3 
or  4000  wounded.  All  right.  John. 

(Note-book)  June  3.  Headquarters  moved  to  the  front  at 
5  A.M.,  joining  6th  Corps  headquarters  just  in  front  of  the  i8th 
Corps  hospitals.  A  general  attack  was  made  by  the  army  be- 
tween 5  and  6  A.M.  I  rode  with  McGill  to  the  2nd  Corps  Hos- 
pital which  is  directly  opposite  the  6th  Corps,  about  100  yards 


IO2  JoKn  SKa-w  Billings 

from  the  road.  Both  6th  and  2nd  Corps  Hospitals  were  load- 
ing army  wagons  with  wounded.  Nothing  had  been  heard  of 
the  5th  Corps  Hospital  and  considerable  anxiety  was  felt  on  its 
account.  I  at  last  found  Dr.  Milhau  who  stated  that  he  was 
ordered  by  Genl.  Warren  to  place  his  Hospital  on  the  Matade- 
quin  Creek,  near  the  point  where  the  old  Church  Road  crosses 
it  and  that  he  had  done  so.  I  rode  to  the  5th  Corps  Hospitals, 
found  them  as  above  mentioned,  tents  pitched,  wounded  re- 
moved from  ambulances  and  ambulances  sent  down  the  Cold 
Harbour  road.  A  large  number  of  wounded  have  already  been 
brought  in  to  the  2nd  and  6th  Corps.  Wagons  came  to  remove 
the  wounded  about  12  M.  All  the  army  trains  are  located  in 
the  angles  of  intersection  of  the  Cold  Harbour  and  old  Church 
roads.  Rode  down  to  headquarters,  meeting  5th  Corps  ambu- 
lances going  up.  Went  to  i8th  Corps  Hospital;  found  that 
their  supplies  are  up  and  that  they  are  now  pitching  the  Hos- 
pital tent  flies.  Between  600  and  700  wounded  of  this  Corps 
have  come  in  from  this  morning's  fight.  There  is  not  enough 
dressing  going  on,  and  more  than  half  of  the  men  are  not  yet 
under  shelter.  About  5:30  P.M.,  part  of  the  staff  went  back 
to  get  dinner  which  aroused  Genl.  Meade's  wrath  and  he 
ordered  Col.  Schriver  to  ride  round  and  ascertain  the  number 
of  wounded  in  the  hospitals  and  to  drive  off  the  stragglers.  By 
his  request,  I  went  with  him,  first  getting  a  fresh  horse.  Came 
back  very  tired  just  as  a  sharp  fight  lasting  about  10  minutes 
occurred  with  the  2nd  Corps.  .  .  .  750  wounded  received  in 
l8th  Corps  Hospital;  28  wounded  in  Cavalry  Corps  to-day. 

(Letter)  June  4.  Near  Cold  Harbour,  Va.  u  A.M.  We 
had  a  respectable  battle  yesterday,  losing  about  5500  men, 
and  I  was  in  the  saddle  from  4  A.M.  till  8  P.M.,  with  occasional 
intermissions  at  the  Field  Hospitals  which  were  scattered  over 
a  range  of  8  miles.  The  Rebs  amused  themselves  by  throwing 
percussion  shells  at  our  headquarters  about  noon.  They  blew 
up  a  caisson  a  few  yards  off  and  knocked  a  small  house  into  a 
pig  pen,  killed  two  men  and  that  was  all.  It  was  raining  during 
the  forenoon,  afterwards  it  became  quite  pleasant.  We  gained 
no  very  decided  advantage — captured  four  or  five  colours  and 


His  Civil  "War  Experiences  103 

600  or  700  men.  Your  note  of  the  25th  came  in  last  night  and 
was  the  most  acceptable  gift  I  could  have  had  after  my  day's 
work.  I  took  it  and  a  hard  cracker  by  way  of  supper.  .  .  . 
You  need  not  have  the  slightest  uneasiness  about  me  for  I  take 
most  especial  care  of  myself  and  straggle  most  extensively. 
The  dust  here  up  to  yesterday  has  been  awful — you  could 
hardly  breathe  anywhere  near  where  troops  or  wagons  were 
moving.  We  are  getting  our  wounded  off  to  White  House  as 
fast  as  we  can.  There  is  not  much  fighting  to-day — the  Coe- 
horn  mortars  are  shelling  away  but  they  don't  do  much  except 
make  a  big  noise.  ...  Of  course  I  have  no  idea  of  what  is  to 
be  done  next.  I  rather  think  we  may  move  off  to  the  left, 
crossing  the  Chickahominy,  but  time  will  show.  We  are  busy 
to-day  getting  up  ammunition  and  supplies.  I  am  writing  this 
while  Dr.  Ghiselin  is  examining  a  candidate  for  a  medical 
cadetship.  I  am  going  to  torment  him  now  a  little  myself 
as  I  am  the  next  member  of  the  Board. 

(Note-book)  June  4.  A  foggy  morning,  raw  and  un- 
pleasant. Breakfast  at  5  A.M.  No  fighting  during  the  fore- 
noon except  a  little  artillery  firing.  I  remained  at  headquarters, 
took  a  bath,  and  wrote  up  some  of  my  reports.  100  wagons 
being  empty  were  divided  equally  between  the  i8th,  2nd,  and 
6th  Corps  Hospitals  and  they  were  directed  to  send  off  all  their 
wounded,  using  half  the  ambulances  if  necessary.  All  were 
loaded  and  off  by  2  P.M.  A  three  days'  issue  of  rations  will  be 
made  to-night  if  the  wagons  get  up  in  time  and  these  can  be 
used  to-morrow.  Dr.  Holman  came  in  at  3  P.M.  and  states 
that  all  of  his  [2nd  Corps]  wounded  are  off.  .  .  .  Genl.  Hunt 
found  a  negro  driver  of  an  army  wagon  loaded  with  wounded 
galloping  his  team,  and  gave  him  a  thrashing.  .  .  .  Nothing 
shows  the  perfection  of  the  organization  of  the  staff  depart- 
ments of  the  Army  of  the  Potomac  better  than  the  fact  that 
they  have  supplied  two  new  corps,  who  have  come  up  without 
anything.  The  Hospital  at  White  House  is  now  in  fine  working 
order;  reports  are  regularly  received.  Reports  from  Medical 
Inspector  Smart  for  2nd  Corps  on  ist,  2nd,  and  3rd  of  June  re- 
ceived. He  says  they  have  still  a  number  of  wounded  on  the 


IO4  JoKn  SHaw  Billing's 

field  whom  they  cannot  bring  off  as  they  are  covered  by  the 
Rebel  sharpshooters.  7  P.M.  It  has  been  raining  gently  for 
2  hours.  Firing  heard  on  the  right.  Report  received  at  9  P.M. 
from  Dr.  Milhau  that  420  wounded  [5th  Corps]  have  been  sent 
off  to-day — has  none  left.  6th  Corps  have  sent  off  all  their 
wounded. 

(Letter)  June  5.  4  P.M.  To-day  being  Sunday,  the 
troops  are  resting,  while  we  of  course  are  working  harder  than 
ever.  I  got  a  train  of  200  wagons  off  this  morning  for  White 
House  loaded  with  wounded,  have  written  about  fifteen  official 
letters,  and  feel  tired  but  well  and  exceedingly  jolly,  as  your 
letter  of  May  28  has  just  come  and  gives  the  brightest  view  of 
things  I  have  heard  from  you  in  a  long  while. 

(Note-book)  Raining  and  cool.  Rode  to  i8th  Corps  Hospi- 
tal, found  that  they  have  about  60  amputated  cases  to  send. 
.  .  .  Rode  down  to  9th  Corps  Hospital  which  is  just  back  of 
Woody's,  about  ^  mile  from  front.  Saw  Dr.  Adams  who  says 
that  they  have  got  off  all  their  wounded.  Rode  back  to  i8th 
Corps  Hospital.  Nearly  all  the  wounded  in  this  Hospital  are 
now  under  shelter:  Hospital  tent  flies  are  attached  together 
and  pitched  low,  forming  very  excellent  long  field  wards — 
the  sides  fastened  to  racks  two  feet  from  the  ground  and  the 
interval  closed  with  bushes.  .  .  .  Wrote  letter  to  Genl. 
Williams  regarding  the  sanitary  state  of  the  Army  and  urging 
that  an  immediate  issue  of  vegetables  be  made.  .  .  .  Our 
cavalry  are  now  holding  the  Chickahominy  crossings  but  will 
be  withdrawn  to-night.  The  5th  Corps  moves  from  right  to 
left  to-night.  .  .  .  Very  heavy  firing  was  heard  on  the  left 
about  8  P.M.  and  the  flashes  of  the  guns  came  out  in  strong 
relief  against  the  dark  cloud  which  formed  the  background. 

June  6.  A  sunny  morning,  cool  and  very  pleasant.  .  .  . 
The  old  2nd  Division  [5th  Corps]  under  command  of  Genl. 
Ayres  has  been  reorganized.  At  9  A.M.  a  circular  was  received 
from  Genl.  Meade  stating  that  application  has  been  made  to 
Genl.  Lee  for  a  cessation  of  hostilities  to-day  from  12  M.  to 


His  Civil  War  Experiences  105 

3  P.M.  for  the  purpose  of  collecting  our  wounded  and  dead. 
A  flag  of  truce  was  sent  out  by  the  2d  Corps  last  night  but  no 
answer  was  obtained.  Circular  received  from  Dr.  McParlin 
ordering  a  daily  report  from  the  medical  officers  at  these  head- 
quarters. 3  P.M.  Report  received  from  Dr.  Suckley1  stating 
the  total  number  wounded  in  the  i8th  Corps  from  June  ist 
to  June  6th  to  be  1556,  of  which  number  1 155  (46  officers)  were 
sent  to  White  House.  .  .  .  The  cavalry  start  to-morrow 
morning;  they  take  16  ambulances  and  I  medicine  wagon, 
leaving  all  their  tents  (40)  ambulances  (56)  and  hospital  stores 
at  White  House.  The  railroad  at  White  House  is  being  re- 
paired. .  .  .  The  Rebs  shelled  headquarters  6th  Corps  and 
the  field  this  side  very  vigorously  about  3  P.M.,  causing  a  great 
scatter  among  wagons,  etc.  About  8  P.M.,  musketry  was  heard 
and  half  a  dozen  bullets  whistled  by. 

June  7.  Cool  and  cloudy  morning.  .  .  .  Complaint  made 
by  Corps  quartermasters  that  great  delay  occurs  in  loading  and 
unloading  wounded  from  the  wagons.  Rode  with  Dr.  Ghiselin 
to  White  House — road  very  good  but  some  bad  spots  in  the 
valley  and  especially  after  crossing  the  railroad.  .  .  .  Saw 
negro  guards  with  muskets,  etc.,  in  the  wagons,  also  2  men 
playing  cards  on  horseback.  [Here  follows  a  long  statistical 
record  of  an  inspection  of  all  the  hospitals  with  pertinent  criti- 
cisms of  their  deficiencies].  Returned,  reaching  camp  about 
8  P.M.,  very  tired  and  used  up.  The  cessation  of  hostilities 
took  place  between  6  and  8  P.M.,  but  all  of  our  wounded  were 
dead  and  were  buried  between  the  lines  where  they  fell. 
Three  Divisions  of  the  5th  Corps  have  gone  down  to  Sumner's 
Bridge.  No  fighting  today. 

(Letter)  June  8.  There  has  been  no  fighting  for  two  days 
except  an  occasional  picket  shot.  Yesterday  there  was  a 
cessation  of  hostilities  for  two  hours  for  the  purpose  of  bringing 
off  our  wounded  and  dead.  All  the  wounded  having  died  before 
we  could  get  them,  and  the  dead  being  in  no  condition  for 
removal,  we  buried  them  as  they  lay.  I  rode  to  White  House 

1  George  Suckley,  Surgeon,  United  States  Volunteers,  1861-5. 


106  JoKn  SHaw  Billings 

yesterday — a  distance  of  n  miles — inspected  the  Hospital 
arrangements  and  got  back  by  8  P.M. — a  good  day's  work,  was 
it  not?  ...  I  think  we  shall  move  down  to  the  James  River 
within  a  week;  when  we  do,  everything  will  come  straight  to  us 
and  we  can  be  as  comfortable  as  in  winter  camp  almost.  Lieut. 
Crowley  has  been  shot  through  the  arm — not  badly  I  think. 
Col.  McMahon's  brother  was  killed  and  was  found  among  the 
dead  yesterday. 

(Note-book)  June  8.  Worked  all  the  morning  at  my 
report  of  yesterday's  inspection.  No  fighting  up  to  I  P.M.  A 
cool,  cloudy,  pleasant  day.  A  correspondent  of  the  Inquirer 
was  paraded  along  the  lines  to-day  with  a  trumpeter  blowing 
before  him  and  labelled  "Libeller  of  the  Press."  .  .  .  Re- 
ceived specimen  of  bad  surgery  from  Dr.  Adams  to-day. 
Railroad  is  being  torn  up  between  Despatch  Station  and  White 
House.  Fighting  now  is  mostly  skirmishing.  Three  men  start, 
I  carrying  rails,  another  muskets,  another  hoes,  run  forward 
and  build  a  breastwork  in  about  5  minutes. 

June  9.  Received  box  of  blanks  from  S.  G.  O.  most  of 
which  are  entirely  useless.  Morning  warm  and  clear,  dust 
beginning  to  rise  again.  Rode  to  9th  Corps  Hospital.  .  .  . 
1st  Division  contains  some  typho-malarial  cases, — red,  glossy 
tongues,  abdominal  tenderness,  etc.  .  .  .  Fractured  femurs 
are  usually  dressed  with  Smith's  splint  placed  posteriorly.  .  .  . 
Rode  to  ist  Division,  6th  Corps  Hospital.  All  right.  Rode  to 
1st  Division,  5th  Corps  Hospital,  just  fitting  up.  Stopped  at 
headquarters  5th  Corps,  had  a  talk  with  Dr.  Milhau.  Sickness 
prevalent  among  the  new  troops.  .  .  .  No  fighting  to-day. 
Col.  Schriver,  returned  from  White  House,  states  that  the  9th 
Corps  Hospital  have  buried  their  dead  in  the  street  about  two 
feet  deep.  800,000  rations  issued  on  June  7. 

(Letter)  June  10.  2  P.M.  My  letter  has  not  come  yet 
with  the  postage  stamps  in  it  and  I  am  afraid  this  will  not  be 
sent  until  it  does,  for  I  can't  find  anybody  who  has  any.  We 
have  had  no  fighting  and  have  not  moved  camp  since  June  8. 


His  Civil  \STar  Experiences  107 

.  .  .  Genl.  Lee  has  very  strong  lines  of  works  in  front  of  us 
here  and  I  do  not  think  Genl.  Grant  will  try  to  besiege  him 
out  of  them,  although  a  siege  train  of  heavy  artillery  is  now 
coming  up.  The  cavalry  has  started  on  another  raid,  probably 
going  toward  the  north  of  Richmond.  We  are  living  in  very 
good  style  now — there  are  sixteen  of  us  in  a  mess.  ...  It 
costs  about  $45.00  a  month.  I  think  I  shall  get  up  to  Wash- 
ington some  time  in  August — I  hope  so  at  least.  My  health  is 
very  good  and  I  have  very  pleasant  companions.  I  like  my 
work  also — it  is  very  laborious  but  very  pleasant.  I  watch  and 
wait  for  your  letters — they  do  me  good  and  enable  me  to  work 
and  to  do  my  duty  better.  My  choice  time  of  thinking  about 
you  and  Birdie  is  just  in  the  gloaming,  when  the  band  is 
playing.  I  lie  and  listen  to  it  and  to  the  occasional  picket  firing 
and  wonder  where  and  how  you  are. 

(Note-book)  June  u.  Rode  to  3rd  Division,  2nd  Corps 
Hospital.  Trouble  with  Genl.  Hancock  about  medical  officers 
being  at  the  front.  This  conflicts  with  Dr.  Letterman's  order. 
Genl.  Barlow  orders  chaplains  to  accompany  their  regiments. 
.  .  .  The  Division  Hospital  Commissaries  are  usually  in- 
efficient— those  officers  who  are  useless  in  the  field  being 
usually  selected. 

(Letter)  Another  day  has  rolled  off  without  any  fighting, 
the  Band  has  just  finished  its  evening  serenade  to  which  I  have 
been  listening  while  smoking  my  after-dinner  pipe  and  thinking 
about  you — and  calling  up  old  memories  of  Cliffburne — and 
West  Philadelphia  and  Bedloe's  Island,  pleasant  memories  all 
of  them — sunny  spots  in  my  life.  Perhaps  now  you  are  won- 
dering what  I  am  doing,  and  what  it  is  that  keeps  me  busy.  I 
got  up  this  morning  at  6  o'clock — ate  breakfast — got  on  my 
horse  and  started  for  the  5th  Corps  Hospital  distant  about  a 
mile.  When  I  got  to  the  spot  where  it  had  been  I  found  that 
the  whole  Corps  had  gone  off — having  moved  down  the  Chicka- 
hominy.  Then  I  took  a  short  cut  through  the  woods  to  the 
2nd  Corps  Hospitals — got  into  a  big  swamp  covered  with  under- 
brush but  finally  succeeded  in  reaching  them.  I  found  them 


IO8  JoKn  SHaw  Billings 

pitched  on  a  lawn  in  front  of  a  house — once  a  fine  old  mansion 
but  now  fast  going  to  destruction.  The  2nd  Corps  has  three 
divisions — and  each  Division  has  its  own  Hospital.  Each 
Division  has  22  hospital  tents  with  the  flies. 

A  fly  covers  each  interspace  between  the  tents.  Pine  boughs 
are  strewn  thickly  in  the  tents  for  beds  and  there  are  plenty  of 
blankets.  I  went  around  to  all  the  Hospitals — saw  the  doctors 
— inspected  things  in  general — and  then  rode  to  the  6th  Corps 
Hospitals — about  a  mile  off  and  examined  them  in  like  manner. 
I  got  back  here  at  I  o'clock  just  in  time  for  lunch.  Then  the 
Medical  Inspector  of  the  9th  Corps  came  in  with  some  reports 
and  a  number  of  questions  to  be  answered.  I  directed  him  to 
make  me  a  written  report  on  the  quality  of  the  liquors  fur- 
nished the  Medical  Department.  I  then  wrote  out  a  report  of 
my  inspection  and  devised  a  new  plan  of  transportation  for  the 
Hospitals.  The  Medical  Director  of  the  6th  Corps  came  in 
and  I  had  a  long  talk  with  him.  Then  the  mail  came  with 
about  20  letters  of  different  kinds  to  be  attended  to.  No  letter 
from  you  though.  Then  came  dinner — and  then  Dr.  McPar- 
lin  who  has  just  returned  from  White  House — and  he  had  a 
bundle  of  papers  to  be  noted.  And  then  I  went  into  my  tent 
and  lay  down  on  my  stretcher  and  listened  to  the  music.  We 
are  expecting  to  move  every  hour  about  now.  I  keep  well  I  am 
glad  to  say.  We  have  fought  this  last  battle  in  a  very  funny 
way,  having  dug  our  way  through  it.  Three  men  will  start 
out  together  on  the  skirmish  line — one  carrying  the  three 
muskets — the  other  two  some  rails  and  two  hoes.  They 
run  forward  as  hard  as  they  can  for  100  yards — they  drop 
on  their  faces — pile  the  rails  in  front  of  them  and  reach 
over  with  the  hoes  and  pull  up  the  dirt  against  the  rails — 
the  whole  thing  is  done  in  five  minutes.  Then  they  dig  a 
little  pit  to  put  their  feet  in — and  there  they  stay  exchanging 
shots  with  the  Rebel  skirmishers  who  will  be  about  50 
yards  off.  They  put  up  their  hats  for  each  other  to  shoot 
at — and  play  all  kinds  of  tricks.  To-morrow  morning  Brady 
is  going  to  take  a  photograph  of  all  the  officers  at  Head- 
quarters in  a  group.  You  may  be  able  to  purchase  one  of 
them  by  and  by. 


His  Civil  "War  Experiences  109 

[Crossing  the  Chickahominy.} 

June  12.  2  P.M.  We  leave  in  an  hour  for  the  James  River — 
the  Army  moves  to-night.  We  cross  the  Chickahominy  at 
Long  Bridge  and  go  thence  to  Charles  City  Court  House. 

(Note-book)  June  12.  Warm  and  windy.  Clouds  of  dust 
flying.  Orders  for  march  received.  The  6th  and  2nd  Corps  to 
withdraw  to-night  to  the  rear  line  of  intrenchments.  The 
Army  crosses  by  Long  and  Jones  Bridges.  Trains  at  Windsor 
Shades.  Depot  at  White  House  to  remain  until  Sheridan  and 
Hunter  arrive.  Nearly  all  the  sick  and  wounded  are  gone  from 
White  House — all  will  be  gone  to-day.  11,363  have  been 
admitted  in  all  up  to  June  1 1 .  Headquarters  moved  at  3  P.M. 
by  Tunstall's  Station  to  Moody's  where  5th  Corps  headquar- 
ters are.  Rode  over  to  5th  Corps  Hospital,  just  by  Providence 
Church — found  them  packed  and  ready  to  move.  .  .  .  Went 
into  camp  near  Moody's  at  1 1 : 45  P.M.  Wagons  did  not  come 
up  and  we  lay  on  the  ground. 

June  13.  Headquarters  moved  at  5  A.M.  Reached  Long 
Bridge  at  7:30  A.M.  Found  2nd  Corps  headquarters  on  the 
north  bank.  This  corps  moved  at  10  P.M.  last  night — 15 
ambulances  to  each  division ;  the  rest  of  the  hospital  train  went 
to  Tunstall's.  Listened  to  interesting  conversation  between 
Dunn,  Grant,  Meade,  Hancock  et  aliis;  rode  through  the 
Chickahominy  swamps  and  marshes  until  4  P.M.,  passing  all 
infantry  until  we  came  to  the  cavalry  picket  at  Clarke's, 
one  mile  from  the  James  River.  Went  into  camp  at  6  P.M. 
in  a  large  clover  field  near  Mr.  Christian's.  The  2nd 
Corps  came  to  Clarke's  by  6  P.M.  The  6th  Corps  got  across 
at  6  P.M. 

jjune  14-15:     Crossing  the  James  River.] 

June  14.  A  damp  cool  morning.  ...  i  P.M.  40  men 
wounded  in  cavalry  yesterday.  2nd  Corps  are  now  crossing 
by  transports  from  Wilcox's  Wharf. 


IIO  JoHn  SHaw  Billings 

(Letter)  June  14.  10  A.M.  Yesterday  we  started  at  5  A.M., 
having  had  just  3  hours  sleep,  and  made  a  long  round- 
about march  through  the  Chickahominy  swamps,  coming  into 
camp  at  dark  in  a  large  clover  field  near  Charles  City  C.  H., 
where  we  are  now  lying.  The  James  River  is  two  miles  distant. 
A  good  night's  rest  and  breakfast  of  broiled  chicken  revived 
me,  and  when  Captain  Bates  handed  me  your  letter — and  in 
less  than  ten  minutes  the  mail  came  bringing  the  magazines, 
why  I  was  as  right  as  I  could  be.  Postage  stamps  are  pecul- 
iarly acceptable.  ...  So  you  see  I  am  very  jolly.  We  are 
going  to  have  good  times  now,  being  on  the  James  River — 
mails  will  be  regular  and  we  can  get  whatever  we  want.  We 
shall  cross  to  the  other  side  of  the  river  in  two  or  three  days. 
No  fighting  yet.  Send  me  the  July  magazines  when  they  come 
out.  ...  I  hope  Alex  will  succeed  in  getting  that  tobacco 
down  for  I  have  not  had  a  decent  smoke  for  three  weeks. 

(Note-book)  June  15.  Hot;  roads  dusty.  Rode  down  past 
Tyler's  Mill  to  the  pontoon  bridge  which  was  laid  last  night ;  it 
has  96  boats  and  is  2060  feet  long.  The  9th  and  i8th  Corps 
ambulances  are  across  and  in  park,  full  of  sick.  A  few  cases  of 
scurvy  have  been  noticed.  The  6th  Corps  train  is  in  park 
near  Douthert's.  Headquarters  moved  at  10  A.M.,  going  into 
camp  at  12  M.  at  Douthert's  in  the  clover  field  on  the  bank  of 
the  James.  The  depot  boats  passed  up  the  river  at  12  M. 
Reserve  trains  were  crossing  the  Chickahominy  this  morning. 
Found  I  had  got  into  a  quarrel  with  the  9th  Corps — got  out 
again.  Went  down  and  took  a  bath  just  before  dinner ;  water 
was  so  muddy  that  I  came  out  saffron  colour.  Orders  for 
the  march  to-morrow  received  at  8  P.M.  The  9th  Corps  goes 
to  the  left  of  the  2nd,  the  5th  to  the  left  of  the  9th,  while  the 
6th  Corps  defends  the  bridge. 

[Assault  in  front  of  Petersburg.] 

June  1 6.  Headquarters  broke  camp  at  8  A.M.  The  general 
train  is  now  crossing  the  pontoon  bridge.  6th  Corps  Hospital 
available  now.  Rode  out  with  McGill,  going  slowly  as  I  feel 


His  Civil  War  Experiences  ill 

quite  sick.  Rode  with  Gillespie,1  overtaking  the  9th  Corps 
near  Old  Church.  Found  2nd  Corps  3rd  Division  Hospital  at 
Dr.  Ryan's  house.  .  .  .  Headquarters  went  into  camp  100 
yards  from  Hospital.  9th  Corps  need  wagons  extremely. 
The  drum  corps  are  removed  and  attendants  are  very  scarce. 
A  general  assault  was  ordered  at  6  P.M.  and  the  firing  is  very 
heavy.  About  1200  wounded  in  the  2d  Corps  Hospital  at 
12  P.M.  A  beautiful  moonlight  night.  Burnside  was  ordered 
to  make  an  assault  at  10  P.M. — at  which  time  the  staff  came 
in — but  he  was  all  night  doing  it. 

June  17.  5:30  A.M.  Dispatch  from  Gen'l.  Burnside  that 
he  has  captured  5  guns  and  550  prisoners.  Headquarters 
moved  to  the  front  at  6  A.M.,  joining  Gen'l.  Hancock's  head- 
quarters. 7  A.M.  Generals  Warren  and  Burnside  came  up. 
Gen'l.  Warren  is  on  the  Prince  George  Court  House  road. 
i  P.M.  Have  been  lying  here  in  the  dirt  while  McGill  and 
Gibson  have  gone  out.  Gen'l.  Meade  ordered  his  camp  moved 
this  morning,  although  his  Adjutant  and  Inspector  Generals 
informed  him  that  no  other  place  could  be  found  where  water 
could  be  procured.  9  P.M.  But  little  fighting  during  the  day. 
We  are  just  going  in  to  get  our  dinner.  Day  very  hot  and 
sultry,  no  wind,  dust  very  heavy.  Rations  of  whisky,  pota- 
toes and  pickles  issued  to  the  troops. 

(Letter)  In  front  of  Petersburg,  Va.,  June  18,  9  A.M.  We 
had  quite  a  fight  yesterday  and  day  before,  capturing  guns, 
prisoners  &c.,  our  loss  being  about  2000.  The  weather  is  hot 
and  sultry  and  a  fine  sand  dust  fills  the  air.  The  flies  are 
getting  very  savage  and  persecute  our  horses  very  much.  We 
crossed  the  James  River  on  the  largest  pontoon  bridge  ever 
made  in  America,  being  2060  feet  long.  Our  Depot  is  now  at 
City  Point  and  boats  of  all  kinds  are  rapidly  arriving  there. 
I  keep  pretty  well  and  scratch  this  off  in  a  hurry  for  I  have 
got  to  go  and -see  about  getting  off  our  wounded. 

(Note-book)  June  18  (Saturday).  Headquarters  moved  to 
the  front  at  4  A.M.  We  now  hold  all  the  approaches  to 

1  George  I.  Gillespie,  Engineer  Officer,  United  States  Army,  1862-1904. 


112  JoKn  SKa-w  Billings 

Petersburg.  .  .  .  Dr.  McCormick1  [Med.  Div.  Army  of  James] 
sent  despatch  offering  the  use  of  some  of  his  hospital  transports. 
Rode  to  City  Point,  found  all  the  depot  boats  just  up  and 
everything  in  confusion.  Received  orders  to  go  to  Washington 
in  charge  of  the  first  boat  load  of  wounded.  Found  Asch, 
Mackenzie  and  others  on  board  the  Planter.  Heavy  cannon- 
ading in  front  all  day.  Hospital  transport  George  Leary 
reported  [from  the  Army  of  the  James]. 

June  19.  Warm  and  sunny.  Worked  all  day  loading  the 
George  Leary  with  wounded  and  set  sail  with  her  at  6  P.M. 

June  20.  Arrived  in  Washington  at  6  P.M.  went  home — 
found  all  well. 

June  21.     Saw  Dr.  Abbott  and  the  Surgeon  General. 
June  22.     Went  on  board  the  Keyport  at  2  P.M. 

June  23.  Reached  City  Point  at  3  P.M.  Found  that  the 
barge  New  World  is  useless. 

June  24.  Rode  to  Headquarters  which  are  near  Jones 
House.  Day  very  hot  and  dusty.  Found  that  in  the  attack 
of  the  22nd  about  2000  of  the  2nd  Corps  and  500  of  the  6th 
Corps  were  captured  with  4  pieces  of  artillery.  A  siege  train 
is  now  at  City  Point  and  will  soon  be  brought  up.  I  find  that 
officers  begin  to  be  somewhat  despondent.  It  is  very  desirable 
that  we  should  have  a  marked  success  of  some  kind  now  to 
cheer  up  the  Army.  Our  losses  in  this  campaign  thus  far  are 
about  63,000.  The  cavalry  have  not  yet  returned.  Head- 
quarters are  now  near  Jones  House  on  the  plank  road. 

(Letter)  June  25.  I  reached  Headquarters  yesterday — 
found  them  south  of  Petersburg  and  west  of  the  Norfolk  and 
Petersburg  R.  R.  There  has  been  no  fighting  for  two  or  three 
days.  Lee  outflanked  the  2nd  Corps  three  days  ago  and 
captured  2000  prisoners  and  4  guns.  (I  don't  think  there  will 

'Charles  McCormick,  Surgeon,  United  States  Army,  1837-77. 


His  Civil  War  Experiences  113 

be  any  more  great  battles  for  some  time.)  It  is  fearfully  hot — 
and  as  to  dust — Lawk!  don't  mention  it.  I  am  very  busy 
writing  up  reports  and  trying  to  make  up  for  lost  time  and  I 
only  pencil  this  off  that  you  may  know  where  I  am.  My  trip 
to  Washington  has  taken  off  an  immense  load  of  the  blues 
which  I  was  carrying,  and  I  feel  pretty  cheerful.  My  leg  is 
quite  numb  and  I  do  not  intend  to  ride  on  horseback  for  a 
week  or  two  but  shall  stay  in  the  shade  and  make  myself 
comfortable. 

(Note-book)  June  25.  A  very  hot  and  sultry  day,  and 
the  roads  a  perfect  Avatar  of  dust.  No  fighting  seems  to  be 
going  on.  I  have  had  a  fly  pitched  for  my  benefit.  My  left 
leg  is  almost  useless  to  me  and  I  shall  stay  in  camp  and  do 
office  work.  .  .  .  Made  calculation  of  number  of  wounded 
in  the  late  fights. 

[Omitting  details]     Wounded  to  23rd  June,    44,499 
Of  these  454  were  officers. 

Number  of  sick  sent  off 3,000 

Probable  number  killed 7,000 

Probable  number  missing 12,000 


Total 66,499 

June  26.  Hot  as  ever.  Skirmishing  in  front  of  the  5th 
Corps  all  night.  Thermometer  103°.  Order  issued  from 
general  headquarters  that  six  medical  officers  from  each  corps 
be  detailed  to  duty  at  City  Point.  Dalton  telegraphed  that 
no  transport  steamers  have  appeared  for  48  hours — that  the 
hospital  is  crowded,  having  6,000  patients,  that  it  is  105°  in 
the  tents  and  very  dusty.  Dr.  H.  Porter,  with  an  artist  from 
the  S.  G.  0.  came  in  to-night,  also  Dr.  Robertson  of  the  British 
Army.  A  part  of  our  siege  train  is  now  being  put  into  po- 
sition in  front  of  the  9th  Corps.  Some  mining  is  also  being 
done  in  the  same  place. 

June  27.  Not  quite  so  hot  but  windy,  and  dust  flying  in 
clouds.  Gen'l.  Gibbon's  Division  moved  to  the  left  and  rear 
to  protect  our  train  against  a  threatened  incursion  of  cavalry. 


114  JoKn  SHa-w   Billings 

My  leg  is  very  numb  and  I  have  to  lie  down  the  greater  part  of 
the  time.  A  gentle  rain  began  about  5  P.M.  Steamer  T.  A. 
Morgan  left  City  Point  for  Washington  with  239  wounded. 

(Letter)  June  28.  For  two  days  it  has  been  hot,  un- 
comfortably hot,  infernally  hot,  but  this  morning  it  is  toler- 
ably pleasant.  Hampden  Porter  is  at  headquarters  now, 
having  come  down  night  before  last  with  an  artist  to  get  some 
sketches  for  the  Army  Museum.  He  will  remain  a  week  or  ten 
days.  We  hear  no  news  here,  there  has  been  no  fighting  except 
occasional  skirmishing  for  the  last  three  days.  Our  siege  train 
is  now  being  put  into  position  and  will  be  ready  to  open  in  a 
day  or  two.  ...  I  have  not  mounted  my  horse  since  I  got 
back.  My  left  leg  is  pretty  numb  and  useless  so  I  keep  in  my 
tent  and  have  been  writing  up  my  reports.  We  hear  all  kinds 
of  rumors  about  reinforcements  coming  but  there  is  nothing 
positive  yet ;  meantime  every  one  keeps  as  cool  and  does  as  little 
as  possible. 

(Note-book)  Somewhat  cooler.  .  .  .  Captain  Newhall  of 
the  Cavalry  came  up  to-day — says  that  Gregg  had  a  pretty 
heavy  fight  at  St.  Mary's  Church,  having  about  350  wounded 
which  were  sent  directly  down  the  James  River,  also  that  350 
were  wounded  at  Trevilian  Station. 

June  29.  Comparatively  cool  and  pleasant.  Report  cur- 
rent that  3rd  Division  of  cavalry  under  Gen'l.  Wilson,  which 
has  been  out  destroying  the  Weldon  and  Danville  railroads, 
has  been  cut  off.  The  6th  Corps  moved  out  to  effect  a  diversion. 

June  30.  Report  confirmed  of  Wilson's  trouble,  also  that 
he  lost  3  batteries  and  nearly  1000  men.  Day  windy;  dust 
flying  in  clouds.  The  6th  Corps  are  lying  8  miles  away. 

(Letter)  The  hot  weather  has  been  succeeded  by  two  very 
cool  and  pleasant  days,  which  I  have  enjoyed  by  lying  in  my 
tent  and  reading  anatomy,  whereby  I  feel  much  better  and 
rather  jolly.  The  siege  of  Petersburg  goes  on  well  but  slowly; 


His  Civil  "War  Experiences  115 

our  cavalry  had  an  ugly  loss  yesterday  the  full  particulars  of 
which  are  not  yet  known,  but  probably  it  will  amount  to  1000 
men  and  3  batteries.  Our  camp  has  not  been  moved  since  I 
got  back  and  it  has  evergreen  bowers  built  all  over  it  and  all 
around  it.  Ice  is  plentiful  and  canned  peaches  occur  every 
day.  ...  I  should  be  sorry  to  leave  the  field  just  now,  even 
if  I  could,  for  this  is  the  greatest  campaign  of  the  war,  and  it 
will  be  a  proud  thing  to  say  that  I  saw  it  all  and  was  in  every 
battle.  .  .  .  Headquarters  are  going  to  move  to-morrow  over 
towards  the  James  River  again,  but  will  not  go  more  than  two 
or  three  miles.  ...  I  don't  think  (this  is  a  profound  secret) 
that  the  tone  of  the  Army  is  as  hopeful  as  it  was  two  months 
ago — everybody  seems  to  be  tired  and  discouraged.  They 
must  be  suffering  a  good  deal  of  privation  in  Richmond  now, 
but  I  presume  that  most  of  the  women  and  children  have  gone. 

(Note-book)  July  I.  Dust  as  usual.  Shell  firing  all  night. 
Thermometer  103°  in  the  shade;  no  wind.  6th  Corps  have 
returned  to  their  lines.  Report  at  night  that  Wilson's  cavalry 
is  coming  in. 

July  2.  No  cloud  in  the  heavens,  but  a  little  breeze  renders 
the  heat  less  insupportable.  .  .  .  Evergreen  bowers  have 
now  been  built  over  most  of  the  tents  here,  and  with  ice, 
lemons,  etc.,  we  get  along  very  well.  The  men  in  the  trenches 
suffer  much.  I  have  not  yet  moved  20  yards  from  my  tent 
but  I  am  going  to  try  it  to-morrow. 

July  3.  A  calm,  cool  summer  night  last  night,  with  just 
enough  firing  to  break  the  silence  agreeably.  .  .  .  Rode  to 
ist  Division  Hospital,  5th  Corps,  found  that  they  had  just 
sent  off  100  sick  who  had  been  collecting  for  a  week.  Flies 
are  very  troublesome.  The  news  of  Chase's  resignation  and  of 
Fessenden's  appointment  came  to-day  and  has  been  the 
cause  of  considerable  discussion.  Sheridan  is  now  at  Prince 
George  Court  House.  The  4th  Division  of  the  Qth  Corps 
(negroes)  are  lying  near  the  crossing  of  the  Blackwater  and  the 
Norfolk  R.  R.  No  fighting.  Day  hot  and  sultry. 


Ii6  JoKn  SKa-w  Billings 

July  4.  Monday.  Cool  and  cloudy,  raining  a  little.  The 
band  serenaded  us  at  reveille  with  some  of  the  national  airs. 
Our  food  for  the  past  week  has  been  very  poor,  the  meat  being 
all  tainted.  No  firing  during  the  day. 

July  5.  Tuesday.  Dust  and  heat  as  usual.  Congress  prob- 
ably adjourned  yesterday.  Gen'l.  Ewell  has  gone  up  to  Mar- 
tinsburg  and  has  probably  by  this  time  struck  the  Baltimore 
and  Ohio  Railroad.  The  Flying  Dutchman,  as  Sigel  is  called 
down  here,  has  probably  done  nothing  to  check  him.  No 
fighting. 

(Letter)  July  5.  Another  long  hot  day  is  nearly  over  and 
while  I  am  waiting  the  summons  to  dinner,  I  will  commence 
this  letter  to  you.  Cannon  have  been  booming  at  intervals 
all  day  but  there  has  been  no  fighting.  .  .  .  Every  night 
the  band  gives  us  a  serenade  and  then  the  mail  comes  in  so 
that  the  pleasantest  part  of  the  day  is  really  between  seven  and 
eleven  P.M.  Dr.  Ghiselin  and  myself  are  now  tenting  together; 
for  bedsteads  we  use  two  stretchers  from  one  of  the  ambulances ; 
we  have  evergreens  planted  all  about  our  tent  and  the  floor  is 
freshly  strewn  every  morning  with  small  pine  boughs;  the 
sides  of  the  tent  are  looped  up  and  so  we  manage  to  keep 
pretty  cool.  Nothing  will  keep  out  the  dust,  it  is  true,  but  it 
certainly  must  rain  before  very  long.  The  flies  are  rapidly 
increasing  and  will  be  the  chief  pest  during  the  next  two  months 
I  presume.  We  are  getting  some  fresh  troops  daily,  and,  now 
that  the  $300  clause  is  stricken  out,  I  hope  the  coming  draft 
will  produce  a  goodly  number.  Everybody  along  the  lines  is 
fortified;  the  surgeons  at  the  front  have  their  hospitals  pro- 
tected by  breastworks,  and  covered  ways  and  trenches  are 
dug  so  that  food  can  be  taken  to  the  soldiers  in  the  works 
without  danger.  I  wish  now  more  than  ever  that  I  knew  how 
to  sketch  a  little  so  that  I  could  give  you  some  idea  of  the 
position  of  things.  Have  you  commenced  the  Herculean  labour 
of  arranging  my  papers  yet?  Poor  child!  I  can  fancy  the 
expression  of  despair  that  will  come  over  your  face  when  you 
look  at  them.  ...  I  see  that  the  new  tax  bill  is  passed — 


His  Civil  W^ar  Experiences  117 

don't  expect  another  silk  dress  for  three  years  at  least  Mrs. 
B.!  As  for  myself,  I  am  going  to  wear  soldier's  clothes  after 
this — just  think  of  $115  for  a  uniform  suit.1  The  Southern 
ladies,  at  least  those  whom  I  have  seen,  dress  in  very  cheap, 
coarse,  strong  dresses ;  they  are  neatly  made,  it  is  true,  and  do 
not  look  as  badly  as  you  might  suppose. 

(Note-book)  July  6.  Rickett's  Division  of  the  6th  Corps 
starts  to-day  by  transport  to  meet  Eweli.  Burnside's  mine 
progresses  but  slowly.  No  fighting  to-day.  Received  report 
of  the  late  cavalry  expedition  from  Dr.  Pease.  But  4  ambul- 
ances were  taken  with  each  division  besides  the  two  with 
headquarters.  The  whole  number  of  wounded  is  774,  of  whom 
526  were  wounded  in  the  fight  at  Trevilian  Station.  ...  I 
have  been  working  to-day  on  the  statistics  of  the  battle  of  the 
Wilderness  but  have  not  yet  succeeded  in  putting  them  into 
any  definite  shape. 

July  7.  Dust  and  heat  as  before.  News  received  of  E well's 
raid  into  Pennsylvania. 

(Letter)  July  7.  There  has  been  no  fighting  lately  and 
everything  goes  quietly  and  smoothly  on.  I  lie  in  my  tent  and 
keep  cool ;  have  been  working  at  the  reports  of  the  battle  of  the 
Wilderness  for  the  last  three  or  four  days.  .  .  .  You  read 
the  accounts  of  Swell's  little  raid  I  presume — one  division  of 
the  6th  Corps  has  been  sent  up  to  stop  him.  I  don't  think  he 
will  get  very  far  but  he  will  undoubtedly  do  a  great  deal  of 
damage  in  the  places  where  he  does  go.  It  will  be  queer 
if  we  find  ourselves  all  up  near  Manassas  again  in  about 
two  months.  .  .  .  We  have  been  firing  a  shell  into  Peters- 
burg about  every  fifteen  minutes  to-day — otherwise  all  is 
quiet. 

July  8.  Very  hot:  110°  in  the  tent.  I  have  been  quite  sick 
all  day,  but  have  worked  on  reports.  .  .  .  Water  tanks  are 
now  in  operation  at  City  Point. 

1  At  this  time  his  total  monthly  pay  in  the  field  was  $121.83. 


Tl8  JoKn  SHaw   Billings 

(Letter)  July  9.  I  have  just  had  my  dinner,  the  sun  is 
setting,  everything  is  cool  and  pleasant,  with  the  exception  of 
the  dust — and  of  six  flies  who  are  especially  desirous  of  alight- 
ing on  my  nose.  ...  I  need  hardly  tell  you  that  there  is 
nothing  new.  Yesterday  the  Rebels  made  or  rather  tried  to 
make  a  little  attack  upon  our  right  but  failed,  and  to-day  all 
has  been  peaceful.  Dr.  Ghiselin  brought  a  box  of  oranges  up 
from  City  Point  last  night  and  I  have  been  enjoying  them  all 
day  in  conjunction  with  a  novel  called  The  Greatest  Plague  in 
Life.  What  do  you  suppose  it  was?  ...  As  to  going  into 
the  country,  I  would  not  do  it  if  I  were  in  your  place.  I  have 
always  thought  it  was  a  very  foolish  thing  to  go  into  the 
country  to  avoid  heat.  I  would  rather  be  in  a  three-story 
house  in  the  city.  ...  I  see  that  the  President  has  pro- 
claimed martial  law  in  Kentucky.  What  astonishing  reports 
must  be  prevailing  in  Washington  and  Georgetown  just  now 
with  regard  to  the  Rebel  invasion.  Of  course  you  do  not  dis- 
turb yourself.  Here  comes  the  band  for  its  usual  evening's 
performance  and  it  has  now  commenced  with  Schubert's 
Serenade. 

(Note-book)  July  10.  Sunday.  Very  quiet  all  day.  No 
news.  The  4th  Division,  9th  Corps,  have  taken  the  place  of 
the  6th  Corps  on  the  extreme  left. 

July  n,8  P.M.  Very  hot  all  day.  A  heavy  storm  is  now 
coming  down  from  the  North.  Very  bad  news  from  Mary- 
land this  evening.  Wallace  is  defeated  and  Gen'l.  Tyler  is 
captured.1 

July  12.  It  rained  just  enough  last  night  to  lay  the  dust 
and  it  is  cool  and  pleasant  for  an  hour  or  so.  Headquarters 
moved  at  8  A.M.  to  a  point  100  yards  in  rear  of  the  9th  Corps 
Hospital;  the  new  camp  is  on  a  knoll  covered  with  pine 
trees. 

1  Engagement  with  E well's  Corps  on  the  Monocacy  which,  although  a 
technical  defeat  for  Wallace,  detained  Ewell  so  long  as  to  make  Washington 
safe,  as  was  Wallace's  hope. 


His  Civil  \Var  Experiences  119 

(Letter)  July  12.  4^  A.M.  All  day  yesterday  it  was  as 
hot  as  ever  but  last  night  the  big  clouds  began  to  roll  down 
from  the  North  and  we  had  a  cooling  thunder  shower  which 
was  a  most  welcome  boon  to  everybody.  The  flies  made  a 
fierce  attack  on  me  this  morning  very  early,  so  to  disappoint 
them  I  have  gotten  up,  taken  a  bath,  and  am  going  to  answer 
your  letter  of  the  8th.  .  .  .  News  came  last  night  that  our 
troops  were  defeated  in  Maryland  and  that  General  Tyler  was 
captured.  The  whole  of  the  6th  Corps  have  gone  up  there, 
and,  I  believe,  the  iQth  Corps  also.  There  must  be  a  good  deal 
of  excitement  in  Washington  and  Baltimore  now.  I  wish  I 
was  up  there  with  you.  Our  headquarters  are  going  to  move 
camp  at  8  o'clock  this  morning;  we  are  going  about  three  miles 
nearer  City  Point,  as  our  lines  have  been  somewhat  shortened 
by  the  withdrawal  of  the  6th  Corps.  The  usual  amount  of 
skirmishing  and  cannonading  continues;  we  have  about  one 
hundred  men  a  day  killed  and  wounded  by  it.  The  Rebels 
have  repaired  nearly  all  the  railroads  that  were  cut  and  trains 
of  cars  pass  every  night  through  Petersburg  towards  Rich- 
mond. Part  of  the  town  has  been  burned  by  our  shells,  the 
gas  works  among  the  rest.  ...  I  hope  that  this  Maryland 
raid  is  not  going  to  amount  to  anything  very  serious,  for  if  the 
Rebels  should  by  any  chance  get  into  Washington  I  don't  think 
they  would  show  much  mercy.  I  should  want  you  to  be  in  Phila- 
delphia or  up  in  New  York  with  Robert  Stevens  about  that  time. 
I  have  not  been  on  horseback  yet  and  fear  that  it  will  be  some 
time  before  I  shall — my  leg  is  a  perfect  nuisance  to  me. 

(Note-book)  July  13.  Hot  and  sultry.  Ice-houses  have 
given  out.  The  2nd  Corps  have  swung  backwards  on  the  left  and 
are  massed  behind  the  5th  Corps.  News  in  the  Washington 
Chronicle  of  July  nth,  is  that  the  Rebels  have  been  skirmish- 
ing in  the  vicinity  of  Tenallytown,  that  Gunpowder  Bridge  is 
burned,  Governor  Bradford's  house  burned,  and  the  devil  to 
pay  in  general.  Wrote  letter  to  Elate  and  lay  still  all  day. 

(Letter)  July  13.  Headquarters  are  now  in  a  pine  forest 
on  a  broad-backed  hill  in  rear  of  the  9th  Corps;  200  yards 


120  JoKn  SHaw  Billings 

away  through  the  trees,  we  can  see  the  white  tents  of  the 
Corps  Hospital  and  just  in  front  of  us  is  a  heavy  mortar 
battery  and  another  of  four  and  a  half  inch  rifled  guns.  All 
night  long  they  were  booming  away  at  five  minute  intervals 
and  all  day  to-day  we  have  been  serenaded  by  the  sharp  re- 
ports of  the  sharpshooters'  rifles.  Siege  operations  are  fairly 
under  way  against  Petersburg  and  we  are  working  away 
patiently.  Dr.  Porter  says  that  you  are  looking  very  well  and 
that  Birdie  is  the  most  philosophical  baby  he  ever  saw  in  his 
life.  The  news  he  brings  from  the  Rebel  invasion  into  Mary- 
land is  bad  but  I  hope  for  something  more  cheerful  to-night 
in  the  mail.  The  mail  has  come  but  the  cheerful  information 
has  not — instead  there  comes  news  of  skirmishing  near  Ten- 
allytown,  the  destruction  of  a  bridge  on  the  Baltimore  and 
Philadelphia  R.  R.,  and  the  mischief  to  pay  in  general.  It  is 
perfectly  ridiculous,  as  the  man  said  when  the  Indians  burned 
his  house,  killed  his  wife  and  scalped  his  children.  I  do  not  fear 
for  the  safety  of  Washington,  for  I  know  that  the  6th  Corps  is 
there  and  I  do  not  believe  that  the  Rebel  force  numbers  over 
20,000,  but  I  fear  you  will  be  alarmed,  worried,  and  anxious, 
and  moreover  that  this  raid  will  do  much  towards  discouraging 
people.  Let  the  people  once  get  disheartened  and  we  are  all 
up  a  spout.  Well,  Well!  God  will  arrange  all  things  for  the 
best  I  know.  Nothing  new  has  happened  here  but  I  should 
not  wonder  if  we  made  an  assault  on  Petersburg  in  a  day  or 
two.  I  hope  we  shall  capture  it  if  we  do,  and  we  ought  to  I 
think. 

(Note- book)  July  14.  Opens  sunny,  but  windy  and  very 
pleasant.  Order  issued  to  level  all  of  the  enemy's  old  works 
that  are  within  our  lines.  Received  letter  from  Kate.  Beauti- 
ful moonlight  night. 

(Letter)  Your  letter  with  the  postage  stamps  came  to- 
night and  with  it  the  Chronicle  giving  an  account  of  skirmish- 
ing on  the  7th  Street  road.  I  can't  bring  myself  to  believe 
however  that  the  Rebs  will  make  any  serious  attack  on  Wash- 
ington— and  I  think  their  force  is  overestimated.  Still  the 


His  Civil  ViTar  Experiences  121 

possibility  of  serious  trouble  up  there  is  an  ever  recurring  idea 
to  me,  and  an  extremely  unpleasant  one  too,  when  I  think  of 
the  difficulties  and  perhaps  privations  that  you  and  Birdie 
would  be  subject  to.  I  shan't  feel  comfortable  until  I  know 
that  the  Rebs  are  again  across  the  Potomac.  Nothing  new  has 
happened  down  here — we  are  still  going  on  with  the  siege 
operations  and  the  batteries  may  open  at  any  moment.  The 
2nd  Corps  is  massed  in  column  behind  the  5th,  ready  I  suppose 
for  a  grand  charge  when  the  time  comes.  They  have  been 
busy  to-day  in  levelling  the  forts  and  earthworks  which  we 
took  from  the  Rebels  when  we  first  came  here.  It  is  a  magni- 
ficent moonlight  night,  and  the  silver  flood  pours  down  through 
the  tall  pine  trees  making  everything  almost  as  light  as  day. 
Dr.  McGill  is  in  his  tent  just  back  of  mine  reading  some  dread- 
ful novel  or  other — Dr.  Ghiselin  is  sitting  out  in  the  moonlight 
and  Dr.  Porter  has  not  yet  returned  from  his  ride.  I  have 
been  making  maps  all  day  to-day. 

(Letter)  July  15.  Not  very  much  that  is  new  to-day, 
Kitten — the  great  event  being  the  erection  of  a  very  tall  flag 
staff  in  front  of  General  Meade's  tent,  which  looks  as  if  he 
intended  to  remain  here  for  some  time.  Rumours  are  afloat 
about  camp  that  the  Rebels  are  leaving  Maryland  and  return- 
ing across  the  Potomac.  I  hope  it  is  true  and  that  Genl. 
Hunter  will  make  his  mark  on  them.  The  mail  perhaps  will 
bring  something  certain.  About  75  men  are  killed  and  wounded 
per  day  along  the  lines  mostly  by  shells  and  sharpshooters. 
The  siege  operations  are  going  on  slowly  but  certainly.  It 
will  be  grand,  gloomy  and  peculiar  when  our  batteries  do  open 
and  I  am  specially  anxious  to  see  it.  They  are  digging  a  large 
mine  under  one  of  the  Reb  batteries  in  which  3  tons  of  powder 
are  to  be  exploded,  which  it  is  hoped  will  blow  the  whole  thing 
to  the  other  side  of  Jordan;  if  the  miners  don't  get  blown  up  by 
a  counter-mine  before  they  get  done — that  will  also  be  a  pleas- 
ing spectacle.  No  rain  has  fallen  yet  and  I  cannot  give  you 
the  remotest  conception  of  the  dust  plague  which  overshadows 
us  all.  The  flies  too — bless  them!  get  more  playful  and  insinu- 
ating every  day.  But  we  have  our  tent  strewn  with  green 


122  JoKn  SHaw  Billings 

pine  boughs,  keep  a  leather  bucket  of  ice  water  always  on 
hand — and  smoke  incessantly — so  that  we  are  tolerably 
comfortable — much  more  so,  I  am  sure,  than  I  was  last  summer. 
The  mail  is  in,  but  brings  no  news  except  that  the  Rebs  have 
run  away.  So  I  can  go  to  sleep  quietly  without  anxiety  lest 
you  should  be  in  trouble.  My  health  is  tolerably  good — I  do 
not  suffer  any  pain  but  I  do  not  ride  any  as  yet,  for  my  leg 
is  still  too  numb  to  make  me  feel  secure  when  on  a  horse. 

(Note-book)  July  15.  Rode  out  for  the  first  time  for  a 
long  while  this  morning.  Went  to  1st  Division  Hospital,  5th 
Corps,  then  up  to  the  works  by  Dunn's  house  in  front  of  the 
9th  Corps  Hospitals. 

July  1 6.  Nothing  new.  Drs.  Dougherty  and  Milhau  were 
up  to-day  to  consult  with  Dr.  McParlin  relative  to  an  order  of 
Genl.  Meade's  of  the  I5th  inst.  substituting  musicians  for  all 
the  Hospital  Attendants  at  City  Point.1  Milhau  was  pecu- 
liarly jolly  and  brought  up  the  subject  of  Pelican  Gout  with 
special  glee. 

July  17.  Sunday.  A  very  cold  night  last  night — and  a 
very  hot  day  to-day.  Burnside's  mine  is  to  be  finished  to-day. 

July  1 8.  Damp  and  foggy.  Bedding,  books,  and  every- 
thing in  the  tent  damp  and  slimy.  A  Rebel  attack  was  ex- 
pected early  this  morning,  horses  were  ordered  to  be  saddled 
etc. — but  nothing  came  of  it.  Letter  from  Kate  in  the  evening. 
Discussed  Cytology  with  Porter  who  in  the  midst  of  a  slashing 
diatribe  on  things  in  general  got  some  tobacco  juice  in  his  left 
eye,  which  entirely  altered  his  views  for  the  time  being. 

July  19.  Raining  steadily  and  monotonously  since  4  A.M. 
Absolute  quiet  reigns  along  the  lines.  Wrote  a  letter  to  Kate — 

1  Enlisted  men  from  the  line  had  been  detailed  as  hospital  attendants, 
those  showing  aptitude  were  retained  for  long  periods.  The  order  substitut- 
ing musicians,  untrained  in  hospital  duty,  threatened  to  demoralize  hospi- 
tal organization. 


His  Civil  "War  Experiences  123 

assisted  in  the  examination  of  a  candidate  for  the  post  of 
hospital  steward  and  read  the  July  number  of  Hays's  Journal. 
9  P.M.  It  has  been  raining  gently  but  steadily  all  day — and 
the  sky  is  still  covered  with  dense  clouds.  In  Hays's  Journal 
I  notice  an  extract  from  the  Gaz.  Med.  de  Paris  of  Jan.  i6th 
stating  that  M.  Roussin  has  proved — to  his  own  satisfaction 
at  least — that  substances  chemically  isomorphous  are  likewise 
so  physiologically — that  hens  may  lay  eggs  containing  a  very 
large  proportion  of  iodides  or  bromides  instead  of  chlorides. 

(Letter)  July  19.  It  began  to  rain  before  daylight  this 
morning  and  has  continued  ever  since,  the  monotonous  drip, 
drip,  drip  on  the  tent  continues  steadily,  and  to  me  the  sound 
although  mournful  is  not  unpleasant.  It  reminds  me  of  the 
time  when  I  used  to  lie  in  my  tent  at  Fort  Schuyler  and  listen 
to  the  same  sound.  I  do  not  suppose  that  we  shall  see  the  sun 
again  for  a  week,  for  it  will  have  to  rain  steadily  for  that  period 
at  least  to  make  up  for  lost  time.  .  .  .  There  is  nothing  new 
here,  an  assault  on  Petersburg  may  be  made  at  any  moment. 
Burnside  has  finished  his  mine,  but  it  is  not  improbable  that 
the  Rebs  have  countermined  him  and  it  is  very  uncertain  as  to 
who  will  get  blown  up  first.  .  .  .  After  we  take  Petersburg,  if  I 
do  not  feel  better,  I  shall  get  a  sick  leave  of  ten  or  fifteen  days  and 
come  up  to  see  you,  and  have  electricity  applied  up  and  down 
and  round  about.  ...  I  suppose  that  the  troops  sent  from 
this  Army  to  Washington  will  return  now  that  the  famous  siege 
is  over  and  it  may  be  that  no  attack  will  be  made  here  until  they 
get  back.  You  don't  seem  to  have  been  very  much  alarmed  by 
the  siege  of  Washington — although  the  newspapers  made  a 
great  fuss  about  it.  I  am  hoping  every  day  to  hear  that  Sher- 
man has  captured  or  routed  Johnston — I  am  inclined  to  think 
something  decisive  will  occur  there  before  it  does  here. 

(Note-book)  July  20.  Damp,  cloudy,  and  warm.  Rain 
falling  at  intervals.  Moderately  rapid  artillery  firing  going 
on  in  front.  Col.  Burton1  and  Major  Michler2  state  that  the 

1  Henry  S.  Burton,  artillery  officer,  1839-69. 
*  Nathaniel  Michler,  engineer  officer. 


124  JoKn   SHaw  Billings 

Rebs  are  constantly  opening  new  batteries  and  changing  their 
positions — that  our  lines  cannot  be  advanced  any  further,  and 
that  Burnside's  mine  explosion  is  indefinitely  postponed 
because  there  is  nothing  there  now  to  blow  up.  "Baldy" 
Smith1  has  been  relieved  from  command  of  the  i8th  Corps. 
To-day's  mail  brought  a  letter  from  Kate — also  the  news  of  the 
President's  call  for  500,000  men.  All  of  which  is  very  cheerful 
and  jolly. 

July  21.    Nothing  new.  Sunny  day.    Wrote  to  Kate. 

(Letter)  July  21.  Nothing  new  has  happened  since  I  last 
wrote,  in  this  vicinity  at  least.  Some  very  significant  events 
have  happened  elsewhere  however  as  I  see  by  the  papers,  ist. 
The  President's  call  for  500,000  men.  2nd.  The  publication 
of  the  platform  of  the  Peace  Party.  3rd.  The  proposed  issue 
of  two  hundred  millions  of  dollars  of  non-legal-tender  notes  by 
Mr.  Fessenden.  4th.  The  siege  of  Atlanta  by  Genl.  Sherman. 
5th.  The  motion  of  lack  of  confidence  in  Government  made 
in  the  English  Parliament.  The  rain  has  ceased  and  the  sun  is 
shining  as  bright  as  ever  this  morning — although  the  heavy 
clouds  around  the  horizon  show  that  more  rain  is  to  come.  The 
artillery  skirmishing  yesterday  and  last  night  was  sharp  and 
continuous.  The  Rebs  opened  three  new  batteries  which  had 
previously  been  concealed  by  woods — and  then  we  executed 
corresponding  manoeuvres.  I  am  daily  expecting  that  we  shall 
abandon  the  siege  of  Petersburg,  cross  the  Appomattox  to 
Bermuda  Hundred,  then  cross  the  James  River  above  Malvern 
Hill  and  move  up  towards  Richmond  on  the  Charles  City, 
Newmarket  and  Central  roads.  If  you  will  look  at  your  map 
you  will  see  where  that  would  bring  us  to.  ...  As  to  being 
alarmed  about  my  health  you  can  stop  that  immediately.  My 
left  leg  is  partially  paralyzed — from  the  hip  downwards  so  that 
I  cannot  get  on  a  horse  nor  walk  with  any  rapidity.  It  is  the 
same  trouble  that  I  had  last  summer.  But  I  do  not  have  any 

1  Major-General  William  F.  Smith,  United  States  Volunteers,  Major  of 
Engineers.  "Baldy"  was  a  nickname  borne  from  his  cadet  days  at  West 
Point. 


His  Civil  "War  Experiences  125 

pain  now  and  my  general  health  is  good.  I  suppose  I  could  get 
a  sick  leave  now  of  20  days  if  I  asked  for  it,  but  I  do  not  want 
it  because  I  want  to  serve  out  my  full  time  now  that  I  have 
commenced,  so  that  when  I  do  get  out  I  can  stay  out  and  be 
quiet.  If  I  find  myself  getting  any  worse  I  shall  come  home 
immediately.  It  will  take  some  time  for  me  to  get  well — but  I 
do  not  think  there  is  anything  dangerous  in  it.  It  is  probably 
what  doctors  call  reflex  paralysis — very  disagreeable  but  not  at 
all  dangerous.  ...  I  can  never  have  a  more  comfortable 
situation  while  away  from  you  and  home  comforts  than  that 
which  I  have  now — I  am  interested  in  my  work  and  I  want  to 
complete  the  history  of  the  campaign  before  I  leave. 

(Note-book)  July  22.  Received  a  letter  from  Kate,  also 
two  numbers  of  the  London  Lancet  and  Silliman's  Journal  for 
July.  McParlin  went  to  City  Point  to-day.  I  have  been 
preparing  a  series  of  surgical  questions  all  day. 

July  23.  Have  felt  very  ill  all  day — feverish,  restless,  with 
headache  and  nausea.  Went  to  9th  Corps  Hospital  to  see 
Sergt.  Meade  who  has  been  wounded  in  the  left  breast. 
No  fighting.  News  came  to-day  of  the  peace  negotiations  at 
Niagara  Falls. 

July  24.    Sunday.    Raining  this  evening — very  gloomy. 

(Letter)  July  24.  The  Rebellion  is  still  standing  on  its 
last  legs  at  Petersburg.  The  Army  of  the  Potomac  is  still 
lying  in  front  of  it.  When  the  Rebellion  gets  tired  of  standing 
it  will  probably  lie  down  too.  Having  thus  given  you  a  com- 
prehensive view  of  the  situation  I  turn  to  other  subjects  of 
more  interest.  After  having  seriously  reflected  for  ten  minutes 
since  I  wrote  that  last  sentence  I  must  say  that  I  don't  know 
any  subject  of  interest.  General  Sherman  seems  to  have  been 
having  a  good  time  in  the  vicinity  of  Atlanta.  A  bookseller's 
stand  is  open  within  100  yards  so  that  the  supply  of  novels, 
magazines,  etc.,  is  unlimited.  My  health  is  in  statu  quo.  There 
has  been  a  great  deal  of  weather  about  here  lately.  And  I 
can't  write  a  letter  to  you  now  to  save  my  life,  so  I  won't  try. 


126  JoKn  SHaw  Billings 

7  P.M.  Yours  of  the  2ist  has  just  come — do  not  be  worried 
in  any  way — if  I  am  not  better  in  a  week  I  will  come. 

On  July  26,  1864,  Dr.  Billings  was  granted  twenty  days' 
sick  leave  by  Service  Order  199,  proceeding  to  Washington, 
where,  on  August  I2th,  he  was  granted  permission  to  re- 
main for  medical  treatment.  On  August  22d,  by  S.  O. 
277,  A.  G.  O.,  he  was  relieved  from  duty  in  the  field,  and 
ordered  to  report  to  the  Medical  Director,  Army  of  the 
Potomac,  for  duty  in  his  office  in  Washington,  where  he 
remained  until  December  27th,  when  he  was  transferred 
to  the  Surgeon-General's  Office. 

During  October,  he  seems  to  have  paid  a  short  visit  to 
his  old  headquarters  before  Petersburg,  as  his  note-books 
show: 

(Letter)  October  27.  I  reached  headquarters  about  10 
P.M.  last  night  after  many  disagreeables,  not  the  least  of  which 
was  being  compelled  to  ride  ten  miles  on  an  open  car  loaded 
with  ammunition  and  with  a  drunken  engineer.  I  got  here 
just  in  time  as  the  army  has  cut  loose  from  City  Point,  and  is 
now  engaged  in  a  fight  on  the  Southside  R.  Road — which  fight 
will  probably  get  hotter  as  the  day  goes  on.  I  found  every  one 
well  and  glad  to  see  me,  and  am  now  on  the  top  of  a  pine  stump 
on  a  high  hill  which  commands  a  view  of  our  line  for  two  miles 
each  way.  Ambulances  are  going  past  with  the  wounded,  and 
a  grand  assault  has  been  ordered,  which  I  am  waiting  to  see. 

(Note-book)  October  27.  Came  up  last  night  on  an 
ammunition  train  with  a  drunken  engineer — met  McGill  at 
Warren  Station.  Headquarters  at  Poplar  Grove  Ch.  Moved 
this  morning  at  4  A.M.,  an  assault  having  been  ordered  at  day- 
light, to  Fort  Clemens.  Genl.  Grant  and  staff  came  up  in  the 
morning.  Day  cool  and  cloudy.  The  hospital  wagons  of  the 
5th  Corps  came  up,  which  is  supposed  to  be  contrary  to  orders. 
It  was  very  fortunate  however,  as  it  began  to  rain  about  5 
P.M.  and  continued  until  midnight.  The  5th  Corps  had  about 


His  Civil  "War  Experiences  127 

• 
100  wounded.    The  2nd  Corps  had  but  41  ambulances  and  no 

Hospital.  Had  about  400  wounded.  All  the  ambulances  were 
loaded  with  wounded  and  started  for  Warren  Station  about 
7  P.M.  The  Corps  withdraws  about  I  A.M.  (28th)  leaving  over 
loo  wounded  behind  with  three  doctors.  An  order  was  issued 
to  send  wounded  to  Warren  Station  to  meet  a  train  which 
would  be  ready  by  8  A.M.  the  28th.  Headquarters  during  the 
night  were  near  the  Armstrong  House. 

(Letter)  October  28.  The  fighting  is  over  for  the  present 
and  the  Army  has  returned  to  its  former  position.  Headquar- 
ters are  on  the  Railroad  about  8  miles  from  City  Point.  We 
lost  about  1000  in  all — the  Rebs  about  1600.  No  results. 
Another  move  will  probably  take  place  next  week.  I  am  well 
and  jolly  and  glad  I  came.  I  shall  write  a  long  letter  to-morrow 
when  the  wagons  come  up  and  an  office  is  established. 

(Note-book)  October  28.  A  fine  bright  sunny  morning, 
windy.  Orders  to  move  at  6  A.M.  and  the  wagons  were  packed 
and  sent  off  at  that  time.  Returned  in  the  evening  to  the 
Aiken  house — the  movement  having  been  abandoned. 

Here  Billings's  note-books  and  wartime  letters  end ;  on 
December  27,  1864,  he  reported  for  duty  in  the  Surgeon- 
General's  Office  at  Washington,  per  S.  O.  476,  A.  G.  O., 
December  31,  1864  and  remained  there  until  August  20, 

1895. 

Sometime  during  the  year,  Dr.  Billings  rendered  to  the 
Medical  Director  (Surgeon  McParlin)  an  interesting  "Re- 
port on  the  Treatment  of  Diseases  and  Injuries  in  the 
Army  of  the  Potomac  during  1864." *  This  begins  with  a 
detailed  account  of  the  methods  of  hospital  organization 
and  administration,  as  originally  prescribed  by  Letterman, 
describes  the  mode  of  collecting,  transporting,  and  caring 
for  the  wounded  during  an  engagement,  gives  some  in- 

1  Medical  and  Surgical  History  of  the  War,  Washington,  1870,  pt.  i.,  vol.  i., 
199-202. 


128  JoHn  SHaw  Billings 

teresting  observations  on  sunstroke,  scurvy,  and  typho- 
malarial  fever  during  the  campaign  and  concludes  with  a 
thoroughgoing  critique  of  the  surgery  performed  in  the 
field  hospitals,  which  he  pronounces  "  unprecedently 
good."  Many  years  afterward  (in  1905),  Dr.  Billings 
summed  up  the  substance  of  this  criticism  as  follows: 

Looking  back  at  the  war  as  I  remember  it,  it  is  a  wonder 
that  so  many  of  the  medical  officers  did  as  well  as  they  did, 
and  that  the  results  were  as  good  as  they  were.  My  main 
criticism  of  the  surgical  work  that  I  saw  was  that  too  much 
resection  was  attempted  in  cases  of  injury  of  the  long  bones. 
If  a  ball  smashed  a  femur,  some  surgeons  wanted  to  get  out  all 
of  the  fragments,  although  in  doing  so  they  made  the  injury 
much  more  severe. 

During  the  first  two  years  of  the  war  the  records  of  the 
wounded  in  field  hospitals  were  often  very  imperfect,  for 
comparatively  few  surgeons  made  notes  of  their  cases.  During 
the  last  two  years  of  the  war  the  records  were  much  more 
complete,  as  a  medical  officer  and  a  hospital  steward  were  often 
detailed  for  the  duty  of  making  such  records.1 

In  McParlin's  "Report  of  the  Medical  Director  of  the 
Army  of  the  Potomac,  from  January  14  to  July  31,  1864," 
which  was  largely  prepared  from  the  pocket-book  notes 
made  by  Billings  in  the  field  and  written  out  by  him  during 
the  siege  of  Petersburg,  there  is  a  description  of  the  battle 
of  the  Wilderness,  which  is  worth  quoting : 

As  has  been  well  said,  "this  was  a  battle  which  no  man  saw 
or  could  see, "  fought  in  the  midst  of  dense  thickets  of  second 
growth  underbrush  and  evergreens,  rendering  the  use  of 
artillery  almost  impossible,  and  compelling  the  opposing  lines 
to  approach  very  near  in  order  to  see  each  other.  It  was  a 
series  of  fierce  attacks  and  repulses  on  either  side,  and  the 
hostile  lines  swayed  back  and  forth  over  a  strip  of  ground  two 

1  Tr.  Coll.  Phys.,  Phila.,  1905,  3  s.,  xxvii.,  121. 


His  Civil  "War  Experiences  129 

hundred  yards  to  a  mile  in  width,  in  which  the  severely  wounded 
of  both  sides  were  scattered.  This  strip  of  woods  was  on 
fire  in  many  places,  and  some  of  the  wounded  who  were  unable 
to  escape  were  thus  either  suffocated  or  burned  to  death.  The 
number  who  thus  perished  is  unknown,  but  it  is  supposed  to 
have  been  about  two  hundred.  The  stretcher-bearers  of  the 
ambulance  corps  followed  the  line  of  battle  closely,  and  dis- 
played great  gallantry  in  their  efforts  to  bring  off  the  wounded 
lying  between  the  lines,  but  with  very  little  success,  it  being 
almost  impossible  to  find  wounded  men  lying  scattered 
through  the  dense  thickets,  and  the  enemy  firing  at  every 
moving  light  or  even  at  the  slightest  noise.  .  .  .  The  propor- 
tion of  officers  wounded  was  very  large,  being  one  to  every 
sixteen  enlisted  men.  This  was  due  to  the  fact  that  the  con- 
flict partook  of  the  character  of  skirmishing  on  a  large  scale, 
and  those  who  were  the  most  conspicuously  dressed  were  the 
first  victims.  For  a  similar  reason  the  Zouave  Brigade  of  the 
ist  Division,  Fifth  Corps,  whose  uniforms  were  braided  with 
red  and  yellow  scrolls  met  with  a  very  heavy  loss.  ...  As 
an  interesting  fact  bearing  upon  the  character  of  the  conflict, 
it  may  be  mentioned  that  it  is  stated  by  the  chief  ordnance 
officer  that  but  eleven  rounds  of  ammunition  per  man  were 
used  by  the  Army  during  the  three  days'  fight.1 

Contrast  the  accuracy  of  this  plain  narrative,  based  on 
the  jottings  in  pocket  note-books,  with  the  more  embel- 
lished account  of  the  later  historians  (Nicolay  and  Hay) : 

In  this  manner  began  the  mutual  slaughter  of  the  Wilder- 
ness, on  a  scene  the  strangest  ever  chosen  by  man  or  by  destiny 
for  the  field  of  a  great  battle.  The  primeval  forest  had  been 
cut  away  in  former  years  to  serve  the  needs  of  mines  and  fur- 
naces in  the  neighbourhood ;  those  industries  had  declined  and 
perished;  and  now  the  whole  region,  left  to  itself,  had  been 
covered  with  a  wild  and  shaggy  growth  of  scrub  oak,  dwarf 
pines,  and  hazel  thicket  woven  together  by  trailing  vines  and 

1  Med.  and  Surg.  History  of  the  War,  Washington,  1870,  pt.  i.,  vol.  i., 


130  JoHn  SHaw  Billing's 

briers.  Into  this  dense  jungle  the  troops  of  Warren  plunged, 
and  were  instantly  lost  to  sight  of  their  commanders  and  of 
each  other.  They  fought  under  terrible  disadvantages;  de- 
prived of  the  view  of  their  comrades  to  the  left  and  right,  not 
knowing  what  obstacles  or  dangers  would  confront  them  at 
every  step,  they  made  through  the  dismal  chaparral. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  Confederates,  being  in  position,  had 
every  advantage  of  this  strange  situation.  Unseen  and  silent, 
they  could  await  the  approach  of  the  Federal  troops,  whose 
every  movement  was  betrayed  by  the  noise  of  their  march,  and 
could  thus  deliver  the  first  and  most  murderous  volley.  .  .  . 
Neither  party  on  account  of  the  nature  of  the  country,  could 
follow  up  these  momentary  successes.  On  each  side  the 
soldiers  hastily  intrenched  themselves  in  every  position  they 
assumed.  There  could  be  no  ensemble  in  such  a  fight.  A 
series  of  detached  and  sanguinary  skirmishes  took  place  all 
day. 

Scattered  through  the  three  surgical  volumes  of  the 
Medical  and  Surgical  History  of  the  War  of  the  Rebellion 
are  many  reports  of  surgical  cases  which  show  that  Billings 
was  one  of  the  ablest  American  operators  of  his  time. 
Most  of  his  own  surgical  work  was  performed  at  Cliff  - 
burne  (1862),  at  Chancellorsville  and  Gettysburg  (1863), 
but  during  the  campaign  of  1864,  he  was  constantly  in 
request  as  an  adviser  or  consultant  in  difficult  cases.  His 
actual  work  included  all  the  major  amputations  and  ex- 
cisions, trephining  and  operations  for  gunshot  wounds  of 
the  head  and  pelvis,  in  fact  about  all  that  was  usually 
done  in  the  pre-antiseptic  period.  He  was  the  first  surgeon 
in  the  war  to  attempt  the  unusual  operation  of  excision  of 
the  ankle  joint  (January  6,  1862)  which  had  been  done 
only  two  or  three  times  before  in  the  history  of  surgery, 
and  was  successful  in  his  case.  Lister's  classical  paper 
on  excision  of  the  wrist,  which  set  the  pace  in  these  pro- 
cedures, was  not  published  until  1865. 


His  Civil  ^War  Experiences  131 

Several  photographs  of  Dr.  Billings,  taken  during  this 
war  period,  exist  and  are  undoubtedly  good  likenesses. 
The  earliest  represents  a  fine,  serious  young  face,  with  a 
certain  glint  in  the  eyes  which  suggests  that,  like  other 
earnest  spirits  of  the  time,  he  had  his  full  share  of  worries 
and  responsibilities  and  felt  them.  General  Woodhull,  in  a 
private  letter  to  the  writer  says:  "I  remember  seeing  a 
pale,  quiet,  silent  young  man,  brought  [as  a  guest]  to  the 
Union  Hotel  [Hospital]  one  evening  in  September  [1861] 
while  I  was  on  duty  there."  In  the  Army  Medical 
Library,  there  hangs  one  of  Brady's  photographs  of  a 
group  of  officers  in  which  Billings  appears,  a  tall,  spare 
figure,  with  a  worn  serious  face,  corresponding  with  this 
description.  A  large  photograph,  evidently  of  a  later 
period,  which  hangs  in  the  same  Library,  represents  a 
stalwart,  full-bearded  man,  with  a  shrewd,  penetrating 
gaze,  the  look  of  one  who  has  long  since  learned  to  meet  the 
world  on  its  own  terms,  has  taken  its  buffets  and  rewards 
with  equal  thanks,  and  is  no  pipe  for  fortune's  finger  to 
play  upon. 

Dr.  Weir  Mitchell,  in  a  few  exquisite  lines,  has  left  us  an 
enduring  impression  of  the  young  army  surgeon  of  these 
early  portraits: 

To  comprehend  the  character  of  a  man,  he  must  have  been 
seen  in  his  relation  to  the  various  duties  which  test  the  quali- 
ties of  both  heart  and  head.  The  charge  of  suffering,  crippled, 
wounded  soldiers  is  a  trial  to  the  surgeon,  and  here  he  showed 
the  man  at  his  best.  He  was  patient  with  the  impatient,  never 
irritable  with  the  unreason  of  sufferers,  never  seeming  to  be  in 
a  hurry,  and  left  at  every  bedside  in  the  long  sad  wards  the 
impression  of  being  in  earnest  and  honestly  interested. 

It  was  thus  I  first  knew  John  Billings  when  in  the  crowded 
wards  wearied  homesick  men  welcomed  his  kindly  face  and  the 
almost  womanly  tenderness  he  brought  to  a  difficult  service. 

My  own  personal  relations  with  John  Billings  began  in  the 


132  JoHn.  SHa-w  Billings 

Civil  War  when  he  had  for  a  time  the  care  of  my  brother,  a 
medical  cadet,  during  a  mortal  illness  contracted  in  the  Doug- 
las Hospital,  Washington.  I  saw  then  how  gentle-minded  was 
this  man  and  how  he  realized  the  pathetic  disappointment  of  a 
highly  gifted  young  life  consciously  drifting  deathward.  I  saw 
thus  a  side  of  John  Billings  he  rarely  revealed  in  its  fullness. J 

In  the  Harvard  Memorial  Biographies, 2  we  read,  in  the 
sketch  of  the  life  of  Lieutenant  Edward  Stanley  Abbot 
of  Boston,  who  was  mortally  wounded  at  Gettysburg : 

On  Tuesday  morning,  when  the  surgeon,  Dr.  Billings,  of  the 
Regular  service,  came  in,  Stanley  asked  the  Doctor  to  feel  his 
pulse,  and  desired  to  know  if  he  was  feverish,  since  the  pulsa- 
tions were  at  one  time  strong  and  quick  and  then  slow  and 
feeble.  Dr.  Billings,  a  most  excellent  surgeon  and  a  very 
prompt  and  straightforward  man,  felt  of  the  pulse,  and  then, 
looking  Stanley  in  the  eye,  slowly  answered,  "No,  Mr.  Abbot, 
there  is  no  fever  there.  You  are  bleeding  internally.  You 
never  will  see  to-morrow's  sunset."  Captain  Walcott,  the 
officer  at  his  side  who  related  these  circumstances  to  me,  says 
that  he  then  looked  at  Stanley,  to  see  the  effect  of  these  words. 
But  Stanley  was  entirely  calm.  Presently  he  said,  with  a 
smile,  "That  is  rather  hard,  isn't  it?  but  it's  all  right;  and  I 
thought  as  much  ever  since  I  was  hit."  Dr.  Billings  asked 
him  if  he  had  any  messages  to  leave  for  his  friends.  Stanley 
said  he  would  tell  Walcott  everything;  saying,  too,  that  I 
should  come  on  there,  and  that  everything  was  to  be  given  to 
me.  Dr.  Billings  then  left  him. 

The  same  impression  is  conveyed  in  a  private  letter  of 
Edwin  H.  Abbot,  author  of  the  above,  which  the  writer  is 
privileged  to  quote,3  relating  to  a  visit  to  Gettysburg  in 
search  of  his  brother,  Lieutenant  Abbot,  i/th  Infantry: 

1  Weir  Mitchell,  Science,  N.  Y.,  1913,  n.  s.,  xxxviii.,  831. 

3  Harvard  Memorial  Biographies,  Cambridge,  1867,  ii.f  407. 

3  By  kind  permission  of  General  Henry  L.  Abbot,  of  Cambridge,  Mass. 


His  Civil  \Var  Experiences  133 

At  last  we  reached  the  Fifth  Corps  Hospital.  Dr.  Billings 
had  charge  of  the  camp  with  Dr.  Ramsey,  both  admirable 
surgeons.  I  knew  that  if  all  Stanley  could  telegraph  was  "  Dr. 
says  not  mortal,"  the  wound  must  be  as  near  mortal  as  it 
could  be  without  being  so.  I  asked,  "Can  I  see  Lieutenant 
Abbot,  I7th  Infantry?"  "Lieutenant  Abbot,"  said  Dr. 
Billings,  looking  me  kindly  in  the  face,  "died  on  Wednesday  at 
noon.  We  got  your  telegram  and  have  saved  his  things  for 
you.  I  had  the  body  carefully  wrapped  in  his  blanket  and  the 
grave  marked  for  you.  He  left  all  directions  with  Lieutenant 
Walcott  of  his  regiment  who  lay  by  his  side  until  he  died.  I 
will  lead  you  to  him. "  It  was  to  this  extra-official  kindness, 
[General  Abbot  goes  on  to  say],  under  circumstances  of 
confusion  rarely  equalled,  that  my  brother  Edwin  was  able 
to  recover  the  body  for  transportation. 

One  of  Billings's  old  army  friends  once  said  that  never, 
in  all  the  course  of  a  long  and  intimate  association,  did  he 
reveal  his  reasons  for  going  into  the  war  or  discuss  its 
issues  after  the  struggle  was  over.  Having  done  his  duty 
it  became  to  him  a  closed  incident.  He  permitted  no  dis- 
cussion of  it  in  his  house,  and  one  enterprising  spirit  who 
attempted  it  was  promptly  silenced,  under  pain  of  being 
shown  the  door.  To  many  Southern  men  he  became  warm- 
ly attached,  in  particular  to  Hunter  McGuire,  Stonewall 
Jackson's  old  army  surgeon,  with  whom  he  and  his  col- 
league Fletcher  exchanged  many  a  merry  jest.  At  Mem- 
phis, after  the  yellow  fever  epidemic  of  1879,  he  carried 
everything  before  him.  Billings  gave  up  a  promising 
surgical  career  to  enter  the  Army,  and,  as  with  most  Wes- 
tern men,  his  probable  motive  was  not  concerned  with  any 
special  interest  in  abolition  or  States'  rights,  but  was  based 
upon  a  simple  feeling  of  loyalty  to  the  Union.  He  lived 
to  learn  in  battle  that  the  ardent,  hot-tempered  Southerner 
as  well  as  the  cool  Northerner  or  the  rugged,  aggressive 
Westerner,  took  up  arms  from  the  same  passion  which 


134  JoHn  SKa-w  Billings 

impelled  the  Scotch  Highlander  to  kiss  his  mother  earth, 
and  such  was,  no  doubt,  his  own  feeling : 

Being  here,  my  mind 
Is  yet  to  serve  no  mistress  but  alone 
This  earth  my  bones  were  bred  of,  this  kind  land 
Which  moulded  me  and  fostered ;  her  strong  milk 
Put  manhood  in  my  blood,  and  from  my  heart 
If  she  that  nurtured  need  it  now  to  drink 
I  think  not  much  to  shed  it.1 

To  the  last,  Billings  retained  a  latent  regard  for  the 
memory  of  his  comrades  in  arms  who  were  killed  in  battle. 
At  the  close  of  his  reminiscences  of  Tom  Allen,  the  school- 
mate friend  of  his  youth,  written  at  the  most  crowded 
period  of  his  busy  life,  he  sets  aside  a  sprig  of  rosemary  in 
remembrance  of  this  "tan-faced  prairie  boy"  of  the  West, 
who  probably  had  a  nameless  grave  and  whom  everyone 
else  had  forgotten: 

The  last  time  I  saw  Tom  he  was  cooking,  but  in  a  place  and 
under  circumstances  widely  different  from  those  I  have  de- 
scribed. It  was  by  a  little  camp-fire  on  the  roadside,  near 
Todd's  Tavern  in  Virginia,  on  the  morning  of  the  eighth  of 
May,  1864. 

The  regiment  in  which  he  was  a  private  was  making  a  short 
halt  after  having  marched  nearly  all  night,  and  the  men  were 
making  coffee  in  their  tin  cups. 

Tom  was  broiling  a  piece  of  salt  pork  over  the  fire;  and 
although  the  slender  figure  had  filled  out,  though  the  freckles 
were  replaced  by  tan,  and  the  blue  uniform  was  very  different 
from  the  college  dress,  otherwise  there  was  little  change;  and 
there  was  something  in  the  attitude  as  he  leaned  forward  to- 
ward the  fire  with  averted  face,  which  at  once  reminded  me  of 
the  times  when  I  had  seen  him  in  the  same  position  before  his 
fireplace  in  "south-east." 

1  Speech  of  the  Regent  Murray  in  Swinburne's  Both-well,  act  v.,  sc.  3. 


His  Civil  "War  Experiences  135 

I  had  changed  more  than  he,  and  had  to  introduce  myself; 
but  when  he  once  knew  who  it  was,  his  greetings,  and  his  invi- 
tation to  have  some  coffee  and  pork,  were  as  cordial  as  in  the 
old  days. 

Five  minutes  of  hurried  question  and  answer  to  get  the 
latest  news  of  old  schoolmates,  a  mouthful  of  black  coffee  from 
the  tin  cup,  with  a  wish  for  his  health  and  success,  and  we 
parted. 

An  hour  after  that  Tom's  regiment  was  in  the  thick  of  the 
Spottsylvania  fight,  and  at  the  next  roll-call  he  was  not  there  to 
answer. 


CHAPTER  III 

OFFICIAL  LIFE  IN  WASHINGTON 

ON  August  22,  1864,  Dr.  Billings  was  relieved  from 
duty  in  the  field,  and  assigned  to  the  Washington 
branch  of  the  Office  of  the  Medical  Director  of  the 
Army  of  the  Potomac,  in  connection  with  the  care,  arrange- 
ment, and  analysis  of  its  field  reports,  the  results  of  which 
were  duly  embodied  in  the  Medical  and  Surgical  History 
of  the  War.  On  December  27,  1864,  he  was  transferred  to 
the  Surgeon-General's  Office  in  the  War  Department, 
where  he  was  to  remain  on  continuous  duty  for  the  next 
thirty  years,  indeed,  until  his  retirement,  at  his  own  re- 
quest, from  active  service  in  the  Army  on  October  I,  1895. 
Here  his  duties  and  responsibilities  were  to  be  of  the  most 
varied  character,  and  the  cheerful  readiness  with  which  he 
shouldered  every  burden,  however  onerous,  as  well  as  the 
spirit  of  unselfishness  displayed  in  taking  additional  labours 
upon  himself,  and  in  furthering  national  enterprises  of 
great  moment,  soon  brought  him  prominently  before  the 
public  eye  as  an  administrator  of  unique  ability.  During 
the  first  ten  years  of  his  official  life  in  Washington,  his 
time  was  largely  taken  up  with  the  dry,  uninspiring  routine 
of  departmental  business,  what  General  Woodhull,  who 
for  two  or  three  years  of  this  time  was  intimately  asso- 
ciated with  him,  defines  as  ' '  arid  drudgery  among  invoices 
and  receipts,  requisitions  and  bills  of  lading,  treasury 
drafts  and  auditor's  decisions."  Officially,  he  was  in 

136 


Official  Life  in  WasHington.  137 

charge  "of  the  organization  of  the  Veteran  Reserve  Corps, 
of  matters  pertaining  to  contract  physicians,  and  to  all 
property  and  disbursing  accounts,"  until  1875.  His  first 
duties  were  in  connection  with  the  great  body  of  acting 
assistant  surgeons,  civil  physicians  whom  the  government 
employed  for  army  duty  under  contract  in  the  most 
varied  ways,  serving  in  the  large  military  hospitals  of  the 
interior,  on  transports  and  floating  hospitals,  as  reserves, 
or  actually  in  the  field,  all  under  control  of  the  Surgeon 
General.  After  the  event  of  Appomattox,  this  vast  body 
of  acting  assistant  surgeons  was  gradually  disbanded  by 
the  annulment  of  their  contracts,  reverting  to  civil  life  as 
the  necessity  for  their  services  ceased. 

The  great  hospitals  were  also  discontinued,  and 
Billings's  work  was  in  consequence  extended  from  the 
financial  management  of  these  properties  and  their  appro- 
priations to  the  final  settlement  of  their  accounts,  as  well 
as  those  of  the  discharged  volunteer  surgeons,  and  "the 
clearance  under  the  regulations  of  the  Treasury  of  nearly 
all  the  non-continuing  appropriations." 

His  days  [General  Woodhull  goes  on  to  say]  were  filled  with 
routine  office  work,  with  questions  of  bookkeeping  and  pecu- 
niary responsibility,  with  the  supervision  of  clerks  and  balances, 
indispensable  but  not  alluring  to  a  mind  interested  in  problems 
of  military  medicine.  He  accepted  it  soberly  as  belonging  in 
the  day's  work.  It  was  his  disposition  to  do  with  his  might 
what  his  hand  found  to  do,  and  this  had  been  intrusted  to 
him.  For  the  time  contract  surgeons  and  property  account- 
ability became  his  vocation,  and  he  followed  that  vocation 
carefully.  It  showed  that  he  had  the  natural  qualities  of  a  good 
superintendent  and  business  man ;  it  showed  him  to  be  discreet, 
firm,  and  to  respect  the  responsibility  involved  in  money  in- 
trusted to  his  official  care,  but  not  to  mistake  parsimony  for 
economy.  This  practical  work  also  profited  him  all  his  life.1 

1  Woodhull,  op.  cit.,  pp.  331-332. 


138  JoHn  Shaw  Billings 

During  these  earlier  years,  Billings  did  not  allow  the 
tediums  and  doldrums  of  departmental  life  to  sink  his 
spirits.  His  private  tastes  were  entirely  inclined  to  the 
full  enjoyment  of  his  domestic  happiness,  all  the  more 
dearly  bought  by  the  long  period  of  separation  from  his 
wife  during  the  war;  and  among  his  fellows,  the  attractive 
band  of  bright  and  capable  young  officers  whom  Surgeon- 
General  Barnes  had  gathered  about  him,  he  devoted 
himself  to  the  ardent  study  of  microscopy  and  micro- 
photography,  as  well  as  dissecting,  and  privately  taught 
himself  German  by  reading  Virchow's  work  on  tumors, 
then  just  published,  in  the  original.  Among  his  brother 
officers  were  such  men  as  the  handsome  and  witty  Edward 
Curtis,  the  high-spirited  and  high-minded  Alfred  A. 
Woodhull,  the  learned  and  conscientious  Joseph  Janvier 
Woodward,  one  of  the  earliest  experts  in  photomicro- 
graphy, and  George  A.  Otis,  one  of  the  leading  editors  of 
the  Medical  and  Surgical  History  of  the  War.  With  these, 
he  became  so  proficient  in  the  technique  of  microscopy 
that  had  he  pursued  it  as  an  end  in  itself,  he  would  have 
become  an  authority  on  the  subject  in  time.  The  princi- 
pal results  of  his  labours  in  this  field  were  his  studies  on 
the  minute  fungi,  which  bore  fruit  in  the  report  on  crypto- 
gamic  growths  in  cattle  diseases,  made  with  Edward  Curtis 
in  1869,  and  in  his  subsequent  work  in  bacteriology  in  the 
Laboratory  of  Hygiene  at  the  University  of  Pennsylvania. 
An  interest  in  philosophy  and  theosophy,  in  Plato  and 
Spinoza,  in  Cornelius  Agrippa  and  Paracelsus,  in  the 
Smaragdine  Table  and  the  Cabbala,  acquired  through  a 
chance  friendship  with  General  Ethan  Allen  Hitchcock, 
was  to  have  a  direct  bearing  upon  his  future  lectures  on 
the  history  of  medicine,  in  which  he  was  a  pioneer  in  the 
United  States.  In  far  Eastern  lore,  he  was  probably  more 
deeply  versed  than  any  other  American  physician  of  his 
time.  Apart  from  definite  studies,  he  read  much  and 


I 

u 


Official  Life  in  Washington  139 

widely,  his  unusual  gift  of  vision  enabling  him  to  absorb 
a  vast  amount  of  information  with  great  rapidity. 

During  the  first  years  after  his  active  service  in  the  field, 
he  seems  to  have  wisely  determined  to  let  his  mind  and 
spirit  lie  fallow  and  to  have  given  himself  up  to  the  un- 
alloyed enjoyment  of  the  private  domestic  life  to  which  his 
tastes  inclined.  Of  his  letters  written  during  the  year 
1865,  there  remains  but  one,  a  letter  which  was  never 
delivered  and  which  has  a  pathetic  interest  in  that  it  was 
sent  to  a  fellow-graduate  from  the  Medical  College  of 
Ohio,  an  old  friend  and  one  of  his  comrades  in  arms,  Dr. 
Alexander  Ingram,  Assistant  Surgeon,  United  States 
Army,  who,  as  Billings  said  long  after, l  "went  through  the 
war  safely,  doing  good  service,  and  then,  in  1865,  went 
down  in  the  wreck  of  the  ill-fated  steamer  Brother  Jonathan 
on  the  coast  of  California.  "2 

July  3,  1865. 
MY  DEAR  OLD  FELLOW: 

The  world  is  still  turning  on  its  axis  and  coming  various 
games  of  that  sort,  and  I  am  going  to  gossip  a  little  with 
you  that  you  may  know  how  we  are  progressing.  The 
Army  of  the  Potomac  is  at  last  broken  up  and  Washing- 
ton is  filled  with  officers,  who,  like  Othello,  find  their  oc- 
cupation gone.  Surgeons  U.  S.  V.  are  going  out  every  day 
— I.  I.  Hayes,  Gross,  Lidell,  T.  R.  Spencer,  Thornton, 
Owens,  Gilbert,  McKibben,  Hayden,  Petherbridge,  etc.,  etc., 
are  out,  and,  by  the  time  Congress  meets  most  of  them 
will  be  gone.  Of  our  Corps,  Okie,  Homans  and  Adolphus 
have  resigned.  The  Examining  Board  will  meet  in  Sep- 
tember, but  I  cannot  tell  whether  you  will  be  ordered  in 
to  appear  before  it  or  not;  I  think  not  till  next  spring.  A 
dozen  or  more  of  our  Corps  are  to  be  brevetted.  Marsh  and 

TOhio  Medical  College  Address,  Cincinnati  Lancet-Clinic,  1888,  n.  s., 
xx.,  303. 

2  July  30,  1865. 


140  JoHn  SHaw  Billing's 

McGill  are  now  brevet  Majors.  Who  the  others  are  I  am  not 
sure.  Woodward,  Spencer,  McClellan,  Woodhull,  Lee,  A.  H. 
Smith,  J.  H.  Brinton  and  McMillan  are  on  the  list  I  think.  .  .  . 
Heat,  dust  and  flies,  I  need  hardly  tell  you,  render  life  a 
burden  and  a  curse  in  this  vicinity.  I  am  kept  pretty  busy 
just  now,  but  in  two  months  more  I  shall  be  about  done  and 
shall  probably  be  sent  somewhere  else.  The  hospitals  closed 
here  are:  Seminary,  Ricord,  Columbia  College,  Mount 
Pleasant,  Judiciary  Square,  Finley,  Campbell  and  Fairfax 
Seminary.  Washington  is  full  of  Southerners  who  want  to  be 
pardoned  or  to  run  some  political  machine,  but  from  the  news- 
papers I  presume  you  will  be  fully  informed  of  all  that  has  been 
done  before  this  can  reach  you.  The  prospects  of  our  Corps 
are,  I  think,  good;  while  Barnes  is  at  the  head  of  affairs,  we 
shall  not  be  over-ridden  without  a  severe  struggle.  Finan- 
cially, things  are  getting  worse  if  anything — it  takes  close 
calculating  to  make  my  salary  meet  expenses.  I  suppose  it  is 
worse  in  California  however.  .  .  .  There  have  been  few  or 
no  changes  of  station  or  assignments  to  duty  since  I  last  wrote. 
The  S.  G.,  I  presume,  is  waiting  for  things  to  crystallize  a  little 
before  he  makes  any  arrangements  and,  in  the  meantime,  we 
Subs  are  instructed  to  do  just  enough  to  meet  emergencies  and 
no  more.  From  Cincinnati  the  only  thing  I  have  is  a  letter 
from  Sister  Anthony  in  which  she  says  she  has  given  up  her 
new  hospital  for  the  present,  that  everything  goes  on  in  the 
same  old  way,  quarrels  included.  Next  fall  I  am  going  to  try 
to  go  on  there  for  a  week  or  so.  You,  I  hope,  are  enjoying  life 
as  it  comes  along  and  by  the  aid  of  dark-eyed  senoritas  are 
becoming  a  proficient  in  Spanish.  Just  now  you  are  having  a 
quiet  resting  sort  of  time ;  by  and  by,  as  the  wheel  turns  round, 
you  will  be  plunged  into  the  foam  and  eddies  of  the  stream  of 
life  again.  You  ought  to  be  getting  on  your  muscle  again  by 
this  time;  when  I  next  shake  your  hand,  I  hope  you  will  be 
several  pounds  heavier  and  several  shades  ruddier  than  you 
were  when  I  bade  you  good-bye.  I  hope  too  that  you  have 
some  chance  of  getting  into  private  practice  and  of  heaping 
up  some  of  the  filthy  lucre.  That  last  however  is  a  useless  wish, 
for  you  could  not  heap  up  if  you  were  getting  $1,000  a  month: 


Official   Life  in  Washington  141 

if  you  could  not  dispose  of  it  yourself,  it  would  go  for  your 
friends'  benefit.  Be  careful  to  tell  me  all  about  it  when  you 
next  write.  In  scientific  or  medical  literature,  there  has  been 
absolutely  nothing  new  since  you  left.  I  don't  pretend  to 
read  anything  but  novels  and  have  not  found  any  of  them  that 
were  fit  to  read.  My  principal  labour  outside  of  office  hours 
for  the  past  month  has  been  applied  to  colouring  a  new 
meerschaum  and  with  very  good  success.  I  have  really 
enjoyed  life  this  spring  and  feel  very  jolly  over  future  prospects. 
Kate  and  I  have  everything  arranged  to  suit  us,  and  we  have 
discovered  the  art  of  getting  much  pleasure  out  of  scanty 
materials.  I  very  seldom  visit  or  go  out  anywhere;  I  never 
find  any  place  where  everything  so  exactly  suits  me  as  it  does 
in  my  two  rooms  at  home.  I  suppose  that  I  have  deteriorated 
somewhat,  that  I  have  become  lazy,  etc.  I  have  certainly 
abandoned  all  my  ambitious  plans  and  am  only  desirous  of 
keeping  Kate  and  Birdie  with  me  and  of  enjoying  myself  in  my 
own  peculiar  way.  A  stagnant  sort  of  way  it  no  doubt  seems 
to  you — you  who  crave  for  excitement  and  something  new — 
but  it  is  rather  pleasant  after  all.  I  have  been  expecting  a  letter 
from  you  for  a  week  or  so  and  hope  that  it  will  come  in  before 
long.  Take  good  care  of  yourself — forswear  sack — beware  of  the 
senoritas — be  virtuous  generally — and  don't  forget  old  friends. 

As  of  old, 

Yours  affectionately, 

JOHN. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  year  1866,  Dr.  Billings  and  his 
wife  agreed,  each  of  them,  to  keep  a  private  journal  of 
their  experiences  through  the  year.  Dr.  Billings 's  diary 
is  kept  up  bravely  until  the  autumn,  when  there  are  a 
number  of  significant  gaps,  the  whole  matter  terminating 
abruptly  with  a  downright  expression  of  his  then  state  of 
mind:  "Keeping  a  journal  is  a  d — d  humbug."  The 
excerpts  given  illustrate  his  daily  life,  his  growing  interest 
in  microscopy  and  theosophy,  and  his  dry,  humorous, 
statistical  way  of  taking  things  as  they  come. 


142  JoHn.  SHaw  Billings 

Monday,  January  i,  1866.  Dressed  in  gorgeous  array  and 
called  upon  the  President  and  Secretary  Stanton  with  the 
Surgeon-General;  then  to  the  Surgeon-General's  house.  Had 
eggnog,  eatables  and  cards.  The  day  passed  off  pleasantly; 
mud,  slush  and  drizzle  out-of-doors  but  quiet  jollity  inside. 
This  is  going  to  be  a  memorable  year  I  think,  and  I  mean  to 
take  notes  as  the  days  go  by.  We  have  made  a  fair  beginning ; 
everybody  has  kept  the  peace  except  myself  during  the  day 
and  my  fracture  of  it  was  not  serious. 

January  2.  Worked  at  leisure  moments  at  a  descriptive 
catalogue  of  the  skulls  of  the  Museum,  which  I  am  preparing 
for  Dr.  Woodhull. 

January  3.  Enjoyed  the  evening  (at  P.'s)  by  examining 
Dora's  illustrations  of  the  Bible,  Dante,  etc.  Mr.  P.  made  an 
ass  of  himself  by  several  assertions,  e.g.,  that  he  is  an  intimate 
friend  of  Dora's. 

January  7.  To  the  office  where  I  spent  the  forenoon  de- 
scribing fractured  skulls  by  a  big  fire,  smoking  a  pipe  and 
with  no  one  to  molest  or  make  me  afraid. 

January  10.  After  dinner,  smoked  and  talked  or  rather 
listened  to  J.  J.  Woodward,  who  discoursed  of  cytosis  very  well 
and  learnedly.  He  quoted  a  saying  of  Bernard's — that  "Fact 
is  the  root,  Theory  the  flower  and  Law  the  fruit. "  Also  the 
phrase  of  Rokitansky:  "Upon  this  substratum  of  fact  let 
us  now  proceed  to  rear  a  superstructure  of  well-considered 
hypothesis. " 

January  22.  To  the  Navy  Yard  and  visited  the  double 
turetted  monitor  Miantonomoh,  going  all  over  it.  The  machin- 
ery for  ventilation  and  for  working  the  turrets  was  especially 
admirable. 

January  30.  Found  my  thesis  on  epilepsy  and  was  de- 
moralized thereby,  for  I  found  that  I  knew  much  more  four 
years  ago  than  I  do  now,  that  is  of  minutiag.  I  have  gained  in 


Official  Life  in  Washington  143 

breadth  and  connection  of  ideas  but  I  have  forgotten  numbers 
and  figures  most  wofully. 

February  2.  A  beautiful  morning  like  spring.  If  this 
weather  continues  long,  we  may  expect  the  cholera,  which  is  now 
in  the  West  Indies.  Got  a  four  months'  foetus  from  Dr.  Gesner ; 
Kennon  spoiled  it  in  injecting  but  I  think  I  can  get  some  inform- 
ation out  of  it.  Went  to  the  Soldiers'  Home  with  Dr.  Laub  to 
see  a  case  of  necrosis  of  the  femur  following  amputation. 

February  3.  Was  called  down  by  Dr.  Crane  to  consult  in 
General  Tyler's  case. 

February  4.  Still  sunny.  .  .  .  I  ought  to  be  studying  now, 
for  there  is  every  prospect  that  the  new  surgeoncies  will  be 
filled  by  competitive  examination. 

February  6.  Still  sunny  and  pleasant.  Congress  are  still  on 
the  negro  subject.  Dr.  Lidell  came  in  and  showed  me  some 
beautiful  pictures  of  osteomyelitis.  .  .  .  Find  that  real 
studying  is  hard  work  now — I  don't  remember  things  very  well. 

February  9.  Am  puzzled  by  the  fact — if  it  is  a  fact — that  a 
decapitated  frog  will  choose  means  to  remove  irritation. 

February  12.  Office  closed  at  n  A.M.  on  account  of  Ban- 
croft's eulogy  of  President  Lincoln.  Went  up  to  180  and, 
assisted  by  Curtis,  murdered  a  big  cat  and  injected  it.  Bought 
Flint's  Physiology  and  read  it  nearly  through. 

February  14.  Excitement  has  risen  about  the  Army  Bill 
again  which  now  makes  two-thirds  of  the  surgeons  from  volun- 
teers. Went  home  early  and  injected  my  kitten  by  Beale's 
process  which,  I  very  much  fear,  is  a  humbug,  judging  by  the 
results  I  obtained.  Read  through  A  Noble  Life,  by  Miss 
Muloch — very  simple,  very  artistic,  very  good. 

February  17.  Clear  and  cold.  Got  up  early  and  went  out 
and  secured  the  dog,  greatly  to  Kate's  disgust.  Looked  over 
Flint's  Practice  of  Medicine  which  does  not  amount  to  much. 


144  JoHn.  SHaw  Billings 

February  18.  Worked  hard  all  day  injecting  the  viscera  of 
the  dog  and  preparing  specimens  of  microscopical  sections  of 
spinal  cord,  etc.  Was  very  successful  and  felt  very  jolly.  Poor 
Kate  has  the  most  disagreeable  part  of  the  work,  the  removal 
of  the  debris,  and  I  can  easily  fancy  her  joy  when  such  a  job 
is  fairly  over. 

February  22.  No  office.  Grand  mass  meeting  to  support 
President  Johnson  who  must  have  had  a  drink  before  he  made 
his  speech  in  reply.  Worked  up  at  180  all  day  and  got  out 
some  beautiful  specimens  of  lung,  showing  the  epithelium  of  the 
air  cells  in  situ. 

February  23.  Stayed  at  home  and  kept  quiet,  taking  the 
opportunity  to  do  some  microscopic  work,  and  at  last  triumph- 
ing in  having  mastered  the  first  two  steps  of  Scale's  process. 
I  have  a  beautiful  injection  of  a  dog's  kidney  and  am  at  last 
sure  of  what  I  can  do  in  that  line. 

February  24.  Some  sections  of  spinal  cord  of  dog  which  I 
mounted  yesterday  in  the  siccative  <T  Harlem  are  very  beauti- 
ful. But  my  greatest  triumph  is  a  specimen  of  sympathetic 
nerve  plexus  from  the  mesentery,  which  is  magnificent. 

February  25.  Curtis  came  up  in  the  evening  and  we  ex- 
perimented on  the  effect  of  placing  variously-shaped  dia- 
phragms behind  the  back  lens,  with  excellent  results.  Read  a 
part  of  Mrs.  Gaskell's  last  novel  Wives  and  Daughters,  which  is 
good.  A  reference  to  a  Moral  Kangaroo  was  very  excellent. 

February  27.  Clear  and  very  pleasant.  .  .  .  Schafhirt 
came  up  and  was  enthusiastic  over  some  points  in  comparative 
anatomy — the  extraordinary  development  of  the  Meibomian 
glands  in  some  birds  and  the  position  of  the  catfish,  as  shown 
by  the  pelvis,  being  his  main  points.  He  wants  me  to  take  up 
the  subject  and  publish  his  discoveries.  Went  home  and  found 
a  gold  fish,  which  I  injected  instanter,  using  the  Turnbull's 
blue  fluid  but,  I  fear,  not  very  successfully.  Schafhirt  gave  me 
an  embryo  kitten  which  I  put  in  alcohol  and  soda. 


Official  Life  in  "Washington  145 

February  28.  Still  pleasant.  .  .  .  My  fish  injection  is,  I 
fear,  a  failure,  and,  what  is  worse,  I  neglected  to  secure  the 
skeleton,  which  I  might  have  done.  .  .  .  Had  to  own  up  to 
a  very  bad  mistake  about  the  mesenteric  nerve  plexus  of  a 
kitten,  which  turns  out  to  be  capillaries. 

March  I.  Cloudy,  misty,  moisty.  Worked  a  little  at  my 
fish's  head  before  breakfast.  Ordered  a  new  suit  of  clothes 
with  many  misgivings. 

March  2.     Cat  has  carried  my  fish  head  off. 

March  3.  The  concurrent  resolution  excluding  the  rebel- 
lious States  has  at  last  passed  Congress  and  it  is  to  be  hoped 
that  some  of  the  real  practical  business  will  be  taken  up.  The 
Habeas  Corpus  is  suspended  in  Ireland,  so  there  seems  to  have 
been  something  in  Fenianism  after  all.  Spring  weather  is 
fairly  setting  in  and  dust  is  already  beginning  to  fly.  A  signal 
failure :  the  Atlantic  cable. 

March  4.  (Sunday)  Went  up  to  the  office  for  the  walk's 
sake,  then  down  to  the  Museum  to  see  Woodhull,  who  has 
conceived  the  idea  of  my  going  across  the  plains  with  Colonel 
Porter  of  Grant's  staff .  .  .  .  The  i/5Oth  has  come  and  I  must 
see  it  to-morrow.  I  foresee  trouble  between  J.  J.  and  myself. 
What  comes  after  cheese?  Mice. 

March  5.  The  March  winds  are  out  in  their  glory  this 
morning.  Woodhull  and  myself  had  a  dispute  on  the  proper 
classification  of  Museum  specimens  which,  on  appeal,  was 
decided  in  my  favour.  Went  to  No.  180  and  saw  the  i/5Oth 
work.  Good.  Dined  with  Curtis  and  then  went  with  Wood- 
hull  to  Mr.  George  Gibbs  to  a  meeting  of  the  Potomac  Natural 
History  Society.  Had  a  very  pleasant  evening.  Coues  seems 
to  be  the  Society  in  himself.  The  difference  between  the  fauna 
of  the  Pacific  and  Atlantic  coast  was  noted.  Drank  a  large 
quantity  of  rum  punch  and  enjoyed  myself  hugely.  ...  At 
12  P.M.  went  to  the  office,  got  a  mouse,  and  strolled  home 
through  the  moonlight. 


146  JoKn  SKa-w  Billings 

March  6.  Tried  to  inject  my  mouse  before  breakfast  and 
failed  utterly.  Sunny  and  pleasant  morning  but  the  sequelae 
of  last  night  put  me  a  little  below  par.  .  .  .  Mitchell's  Atlas 
came  to-day — a  dreadful  swindle.  Otis  offered  to  get  a  dis- 
secting microscope  for  me — something  must  be  in  the  wind. 

March  7.  Cloudy  and  cool.  Got  books  from  binder,  paid 
for  suit  of  clothes  and  lent  Porter  $3.00.  .  .  .  Have  been 
trying  for  a  week  to  get  some  mice  without  success.  ...  In 
Congress,  the  Senate  are  still  on  the  negro;  the  House  are 
doing  a  little  white  men's  business. 

March  8.  Sun  shining,  but  the  March  winds  are  out  in  their 
glory  and  by  the  time  I  reached  the  office,  mouth  and  eyes 
were  filled  with  dust.  .  .  .  Worked  a  little  at  the  microscope 
in  the  evening  and  was  very  much  pleased  with  the  effect  of 
some  sections  of  kidney  boiled  in  glycerine,  soaked  in  ether 
and  mounted  in  balsam. 

March  9.  Worked  about  four  minutes  with  the  microscope 
and  found  that  carmine  staining  depends  upon  the  ammonia 
free. 

March  10.  Clear  and  cold.  Sent  microscope  to  Zentmeyer 
to  be  fixed.  Suggested  a  cholera  manifesto  to  Dr.  Crane,  with 
ozone  tests,  etc.  Got  very  enthusiastic  all  by  myself  over  the 
Utopian  idea  of  making  the  Surgeon-General  head  centre  of 
the  medical  profession.  Was  sent  up  to  see  Major  General 
Hitchcock,  who  had  fallen  down  and  scratched  his  face.  By 
Crane's  direction,  went  and  talked  with  Woodward  about  the 
cholera  manifesto  and  also  about  the  form  for  recruiting  blank. 

March  n.  Called  on  General  Hitchcock.  .  .  .  He  pre- 
sented me  with  two  of  his  works,  being  a  mystical  interpreta- 
tion of  Shakespeare's  Sonnets  and  of  Spenser's  Colin  Clout's 
Come  Home  Again.  Worked  all  day  at  180,  injecting  a  kitten 
and  the  liver  of  a  dog  in  two  colours. 

March  27.     Had  a  batch  of  young  mice  given  me. 


Official  Life  in  Washington  147 

March  28.  The  veto  of  the  Civil  Rights  Bill  is  the  prevail- 
ing sensation. 

March  30.  In  the  evening,  went  up  to  see  General  Hitch- 
cock, taking  Dore"s  illustrations  to  the  Wandering  Jew  to 
amuse  him.  Went  home  and  looked  at  the  eclipse  of  the  moon 
with  due  solemnity. 

April  3.  To-day,  the  President  has  proclaimed  the  Rebel- 
lion at  an  end  everywhere  save  in  Texas. 

April  4.  Got  my  orders  and  made  ready  to  go  to  New  York. 
Baird  sent  over  Swammerdam  on  insects.  .  .  .  Started  with 
Otis.  Slept  very  well  and  was  very  jolly  altogether. 

April  6.  Came  on  to  Philadelphia,  found  Ramsey  on  Dick 
Street. 

April  7.  Went  over  to  town  and  went  to  Zentmeyer's, 
Queen's,  etc.  ...  In  the  evening,  went  to  a  Mr.  Jeffreys  and 
saw  the  most  magnificent  collection  of  engravings  and  paint- 
ings that  I  ever  met  with — an  illuminated  missal  of  Queen 
Anne  of  Brittany,  an  original  by  Domenichino,  a  complete 
collection  of  Ary  Scheffer  and  Kaulbach,  madonnas  of  Raphael, 
Guido,  and  all  the  great  masters  crowded  every  corner. 

April  1 1 .     Brought  home  an  iguana  which  George  gave  me. 

April  13.  Read  a  little  in  Swammerdam  and  in  the  second 
volume  of  Owen  on  vertebrates,  which  came  to-day. 

April  15.  With  Greenleaf's  help,  I  injected  the  iguana  with 
tolerable  success.  Then  worked  for  a  long  time  cutting  him  up. 

April  1 6.    Read  Paine's  Age  of  Reason  a  little. 

April  28.  A  beautiful  day.  .  .  .  Read  H.  Spencer's 
Principles  of  Biology  which  correspond  slightly  with  E.  Levi's 
magic  and  went  to  sleep,  reflecting  on  the  cubic  stone  and 
upon  Spencer's  dictum  that  the  scale  of  nature  can  only  be 
represented  in  three  dimensions. 


148  JoKn  SKaw  Billing's 

April  30.  The  Fortnightly  Review  came  in  the  morning, 
the  best  thing  in  it  being  an  article  by  Lewes  on  Spinoza. 
Coleridge's  formula  to  express  the  difference  between  Spinoza 
and  Christianity  is  good  :G-W  =  O:W-G  =  O,  etc. 

May  13.  In  the  evening,  read  the  Bible,  Sir  W.  Hamilton, 
Spinoza  and  Eliphaz  Levi,  comparing  each  with  the  other. 

May  15.  For  the  last  three  days  I  have  not  touched  the 
microscope,  having  put  in  the  time  reading  Spinoza  and  medi- 
cal journals.  In  the  evening  went  over  to  Spencer's  and 
played  whist,  being  very  successful  and  passing  a  very  pleasant 
evening.  Went  home  through  the  soft  cool  dusk,  read  a  little 
in  Sir  W.  Hamilton,  and  went  to  bed  equilibrated. 

May  17.  Got  a  pile  of  curious  books  from  the  Congres- 
sional Library  to-day:  Hermes,  Cornelius  Agrippa,  and  the 
Book  of  Enoch  and  read  hard  in  them  all  day. 

May  1 8.  Rainy  and  cold.  General  Hitchcock  came  in 
and  brought  Hermes,  Gebir,  Kaled,  Flamel,  Artephius,  Roger 
Bacon  and  Ripley  for  me  to  read.  Spent  most  of  the  day  over 
them. 

May  19.  Sun  shining  again.  .  .  .  Spent  the  day  hunting 
for  the  Philosopher's  Stone.  .  .  .  Curtis  came  over  and 
stayed  all  night.  We  read  alchemy  till  twelve  o'clock  and 
broke  down  at  last  on  the  cabalistic  iod. 

May  26.  Raining.  ...  In  the  evening  tried  to  read 
Chandos,  a  pestiferous  book  by  Ouida,  but  could  not  do  it. 

May  28.  Went  around  to  Hampton's  where  I  stayed  all 
night.  It  was  a  magnificent  moonlight  evening  and  sitting  up 
in  the  fifth  story,  I  looked  down  on  the  city  and  tops  of  the 
trees  and  of  course  was  sad. 

May  30.  Read  Grose's  Dictionary  of  the  Vulgar  Tongue  and 
Espagnet  on  Alchymie.  .  .  .  News  of  General  Scott's  death 
came  this  morning.  General  Hitchcock  was  in  to  see  me  and 


Official  Life  in  Washington  149 

mentioned  the  speech  of  Scott's  after  the  Mexican  War,  in 
which  he  attributed  all  his  success  to  West  Point  graduates. 

June  2.  The  Fenian  invasion  of  Canada  is  the  exciting 
topic  at  present. 

July  10.  Received  a  box  of  reptiles  and  creeping  things  from 
Texas,  collected  for  me  by  Drs.  Caldwell  and  Perry. 

July  ii.     Dissected  the  nervous  system  of  a  tarantula. 

July  28.  Learned  this  morning  to  my  great  surprise  and 
satisfaction,  that  Congress,  after  much  strife,  passed  Wilson's 
Army  Bill,  slightly  modified,  at  three  o'clock  A.M.,  the  result 
of  which  is  that  I  am  now  a  Captain.  .  .  .  The  cholera  is 
slowly  but  steadily  increasing  in  New  York.  McGill  and 
Heger  have  been  ordered  there. 

July  30.  Greeted  at  the  office  this  morning  by  the  news  of 
the  success  of  the  Atlantic  cable.  Everyone  wants  to  know  the 
provisions  of  the  new  Army  Bill  and  nobody  can  find  out  with 
certainty.  My  being  a  Captain,  however,  is  an  undoubted 
fact.  Crane  was  confirmed  Assistant  Surgeon-General  upon 
which  I  solemnly  congratulated  him. 

July  31.  The  cholera  is  increasing  in  Brooklyn  and  has 
appeared  in  Philadelphia. 

August  2.  Cholera  still  going  on  in  New  York  and  Philadel- 
phia. .  .  .  Good  joke  about  McGill's  sending  in  a  bottle  of 
rice-water  discharge. 

August  20.  The  President  has  proclaimed  the  war  over  in 
Texas. 

September  22.  In  the  evening,  got  down  a  German  dic- 
tionary and  attacked  Virchow's  book  on  tumors.  Found  it 
tough  work  but  managed  to  get  through  one  page. 


150  JoHn  SHaw  Billings 

September  26.  Got  through  three  pages  of  German  at  the 
office.  .  .  .  Had  a  good  dinner,  read  three  pages  of  German, 
mounted  a  Dante  picture  and  felt  better.  Quizzed  Woodhull 
on  bones  and  joints  and  got  into  a  metaphysico-theological 
talk  with  him,  which  lasted  until  ten  P.M. 

September  27.  Dressed  in  full  uniform,  a  new  thing  for  me. 
Drew  pay  from  Quartermaster's  muster,  which  came  just  in 
time  as  I  was  reduced  to  10  cents.  Tried  the  sphygmograph 
on  Abbott  and  Floyd- Jones. 

September  29.     Got  through  four  pages  of  German. 

September  30.  (Sunday)  Read  Gilchrist's  Life  of  William 
Blake,  the  Pictor  Ignotus,  a  very  remarkable  man,  something 
like  Swedenborg,  but  without  his  logical  balance.  Read  a  little 
German ;  have  got  through  twenty-five  pages  of  Virchow  in  the 
past  week. 

October  5.  Did  not  stir  out  of  my  office  but  read  and 
studied  all  day  long  like  a  good  boy;  twelve  pages  of  Virchow 
and  Paget's  article  on  tumors  were  waded  through. 

October  6.  Read  Virchow  and  the  Adventures  of  Tyl  Owl- 
glass. 

November  4.  Woodhull  and  I  tried  our  new  chemical  ap- 
paratus to-day. 

In  1869,  the  Department  of  Agriculture  published  a 
volume  of  reports  by  the  English  veterinarian,  Professor 
John  Gamgee,  and  others,  on  diseases  of  cattle  in  the  United 
States,  the  special  forms  of  murrain  considered  being  the 
splenic  or  Texas  fever  which  had  become  epidemic  in  1868, 
and  pleuro-pneumonia.  To  this  report  was  appended  a 
special  investigation,  by  Drs.  Billings  and  Edward  Curtis, 
of  the  Army,  on  the  question  of  the  possible  cryptogamic 


Official  Life  in  "Washington  151 

origin  of  these  diseases.  The  theory  that  minute  fungi 
may  have  to  do  with  the  causation  of  infectious  diseases 
was  then  very  popular,  the  pace  having  been  set  in  one  of 
the  most  famous  monographs  in  the  history  of  American 
medicine,  that  of  Dr.  John  K.  Mitchell  on  the  crypto- 
gamous  origin  of  malarious  and  epidemic  fevers  ( 1 849) .  But 
the  concept  was  applied  in  a  very  vague  and  loose  way, 
and  at  the  time  at  which  Billings  and  Curtis  wrote,  it  was 
believed  that  these  " cryptogamous  diseases"  were  pro- 
duced, not  by  the  presence  of  a  specific  fungus  in  the 
blood,  but  by  certain  minute  particles  of  protoplasm 
(micrococcus  of  Hallier),  resulting  from  the  development 
and  breaking  up  of  its  spores  or  mycelium;  and  that  the 
fungi  in  question  could  be  developed  from  these  micrococci 
in  appropriate  culture  media,  outside  the  body  of  the 
infected  animal.  The  conclusions  reached  by  Billings  and 
Curtis  are  of  a  negative  character.  At  the  start,  they 
recognize  clearly  that  even  if  cryptogams  were  discover- 
able in  the  blood  and  secretions  of  diseased  animals  and 
their  character  and  probable  source  ascertained,  to  prove 
an  actual  causal  relation  would  be,  in  the  then  state  of 
knowledge,  a  difficult  matter,  "a  problem  which  we  have 
not  attempted  to  discuss."  After  a  series  of  careful 
experiments,  in  which  Hallier's  culture  methods  are  im- 
proved upon,  they  conclude  that  "in  the  contagious 
pleuro-pneumonia  of  cattle  there  is  no  peculiar  fungus 
germ  present  in  the  blood  or  secretions,  and  that  the 
theory  of  its  cryptogamic  origin  is  untenable. "  A  similar 
conclusion  is  reached  in  regard  to  Texas  fever.  The 
authors  cannot  see  how  a  deadly  disease  can  be  caused 
"by  the  presence,  in  the  economy,  of  the  germs  of  fungi 
notoriously  harmless  and  of  universal  occurrence. "  They 
then  proceed  to  another  series  of  experiments  leading  to 
the  proposition  that  "some  of  the  bacteria  and  micro- 
coccus  germs  are  really  fungoid  in  character  and  capable  of 


152  JoKn  SHa-w  Billings 

development  into  higher  forms,"  a  conclusion  probably 
due  to  faulty  manipulation  and  insufficient  knowledge  of 
methods  of  isolating  micro-organisms.  The  authors  wind 
up  with  a  statement  that,  in  establishing  a  causal  relation, 
the  lancet  and  injection  tube  will  probably  be  more  effec- 
tive than  the  microscope  and  culture  apparatus.  This 
experimental  research  is  of  course  null  and  void  to-day,  yet 
it  shows  the  deep  interest  which  Billings  took  in  the  germ 
theory  of  disease,  more  than  ten  years  before  the  proper 
methods  for  investigating  it  had  been  discovered  by  the 
genius  of  Pasteur  and  Koch. 

Billings  made  two  other  contributions  to  this  branch  of 
natural  history.  One  of  these  is  a  short  popular  essay  on 
"The  Study  of  Minute  Fungi,  "  published  in  the  American 
Naturalist  (August,  1871), r  the  other  is  a  close  study  of  the 
"Genus  Hysterium  and  Some  of  its  Allies,"  published  in 
the  October  number  of  the  same  journal2  illustrated 
with  a  plate.  In  the  first,  he  gives,  in  the  absence  of  any 
text-book  or  treatise  on  the  subject,  some  timely  directions 
for  budding  microscopists  who  wish  to  take  up  the  fungi, 
emphasizing  the  important  point  that  merely  to  name  a 
fungus  or  to  find  out  what  name  somebody  else  has  given 
it  is  nothing,  unless  the  observer  can  prove  that  the  alleged 
species  is  capable  of  producing  and  reproducing  its  kind. 
In  the  second  memoir,  as  in  a  manuscript  note-book  which 
exists,  one  can  trace  the  extent  to  which  Billings  pursued 
his  own  studies  in  this  field.  About  this  time  he  was  to  be 
drawn  into  public  duties  of  more  immediate  importance, 
to  himself,  which  rendered  it  impossible  for  him  to  go  on 
further  with  this  work.  Mr.  F.  W.  Stone,  his  secretary 
and  assistant,  relates  that,  sitting  in  his  office  one  day  in 
the  early  seventies,  Billings  called  his  messenger,  and 
pointing  to  his  microscopic  slides  and  other  paraphernalia 
said  abruptly:  "Here,  take  these  things  away:  I'm  done 

1  Am.  Naturalist,  Salem,  Mass.,  1871,  v.,  323-329.       2  Ibid.,  626-631. 


Official  Life  in  WasHington.  153 

with  them. "  Long  after,  in  1902,  he  presented  his  valuable 
collection  of  fungi,  many  of  them  gathered  by  himself,  to 
the  New  York  Botanical  Garden. x 

In  the  year  1870,  or  thereabouts,  his  activities  became 
extended  in  three  important  directions.  About  this  time 
he  was  placed  in  charge  of  the  collection  of  books  known  as 
the  Library  of  the  Surgeon-General's  Office,  which  was  the 
starting  point  of  his  work  in  medical  bibliography.  He  was 
detailed,  or  borrowed  by  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury, 
to  inspect  and  report  upon  the  condition  of  the  Marine 
Hospital  Service  throughout  the  country,  and,  in  1870-75, 
he  published  the  voluminous  Reports  on  "Barracks  and 
Hospitals"  and  "The  Hygiene  of  the  United  States 
Army, "  which  were  his  principal  contributions  to  military 
medicine.  These  were  the  beginnings  of  his  work  in  public 
hygiene,  a  subject  in  which  he  came  in  time  to  be  recog- 
nized as  a  national  authority. 

In  1869-74,  Dr.  Billings  was  detailed,  under  the  Secre- 
tary of  the  Treasury,  to  inspect  and  report  upon  the  con- 
dition of  the  Marine  Hospital  Service  throughout  the 
country,  in  connection  with  which  he  prepared  a  plan  for  its 
reorganization,  which  was  adopted.  The  Marine  Hospi- 
tal Service  takes  care  of  disabled  sailors  in  ports  along  the 
seaboard  and  the  inland  waters  of  the  United  States  and 
has  charge  of  the  Quarantine  Service  at  all  ports  of  entry. 
At  that  time,  the  Service  was  in  a  very  bad  way  as  to 
personnel  and  efficiency,  many  of  its  physicians  being 
merely  local  practitioners,  appointed  for  political  reasons 
and  holding  their  positions  mainly  as  one  means  of  gaining 
a  livelihood.  In  some  cases,  this  false,  economy  was  pushed 
to  the  extent  of  sub-letting  the  care  of  the  sick  and  dis- 
abled seamen  to  local  hospitals  as  an  outside  contract. 
Dr.  Billings  was  selected  for  the  investigation  of  these  con- 
ditions on  account  of  his  already  well-established  reputa- 

1  Science,  New  York,  March  28,  1902,  p.  517. 


154  JoKn  SHaw  Billings 

tion  as  a  capable  and  dependable  man.  He  was  attached 
to  the  service  as  a  "consulting  surgeon, "  and,  in  pursuance 
of  his  duties,  he  inspected  the  marine  hospitals  at  all  ports, 
from  Baltimore  to  San  Francisco  and  from  Detroit  to  Key 
West.  In  the  report  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  for 
1870,  it  is  stated  that  "the  condition  of  the  marine  hos- 
pitals has  been  improved  during  the  past  year.  This  result 
is  largely  due  to  Dr.  J.  S.  Billings,  of  the  Surgeon-General's 
Office,  who  has  visited  nearly  all  of  them,  and  through 
whose  advice  many  important  changes  have  been  made. " r 
Dr.  Billings  was  relieved  from  this  detail  in  1874. 
One  merit  of  his  work  in  this  field  was  that  he  took  the 
Marine  Hospital  Service  out  of  politics  and  grafted  upon 
it  the  Army  methods  of  organization  and  discipline.  As 
General  Woodhull  says,  he  "prepared  a  comprehensive 
and  well-ordered  plan  for  organization  under  a  merit 
system  and  a  scheme  for  proper  and  independent  hospitals 
and  their  management,  all  with  responsibility  to  competent 
central  authority."2  From  this  time  on,  this  important 
part  of  the  public  service  reached  a  high  grade  of  efficiency, 
gradually  expanding  its  scope  to  the  scientific  investiga- 
tion, as  well  as  the  management,  of  infectious  diseases. 
In  1912,  it  became  the  Public  Health  Service  of  the  nation 
on  its  civil  side.  It  has  a  well-organized  Hygienic  Labora- 
tory, and  its  experts  have  done  admirable  work  in  many 
branches  of  scientific  medicine. 

In  this  period,  Billings  made  two  important  contribu- 
tions to  military  medicine,  perhaps  the  best  work  he  did 
in  this  field  after  his  services  in  the  Civil  War.  These  were 
his  reports  to  the  Surgeon-General  on  "  Barracks  and  Hos- 
pitals" (1870)  and  on  "The  Hygiene  of  the  United  States 
Army ' '  ( 1875) ,  which  are  still  used  in  the  service  for  historic 
and  practical  reference  and  are  known  as  Circular  No.  4, 

1  Kept.  Sec.  Treasury,  Washington,  1870,  p.  rii. 

2  Woodhull,  op.  cit.,  p.  333. 


Official  Life  in  Washington  155 

and  Circular  No.  8,  respectively.  Circular  No.  4,  a  volume 
of  527  pages,  consists  of  detailed  descriptions,  by  various 
army  medical  officers,  of  the  condition  at  that  time  of  all 
the  occupied  stations  of  the  United  States  Army,  collated 
and  edited  by  Billings,  with  a  separate  commentary  of  his 
own,  which  is  the  most  important  part  of  the  work.  In 
this  period,  we  had,  as  he  puts  it,  "the  best  fed  and  the 
worst  housed  army  in  the  world,"  and  these  voluminous 
reports  were  published  in  aid  of  improving  its  status.  In 
the  first  report,  he  notes  that  "it  has  been  much  more 
difficult  to  obtain  facts  than  opinions;  even  when  the 
former  have  been  especially  requested,"  which  necessitated 
many  corrections  and  additions  in  the  separate  reports. 
He  gives  an  effective  criticism  of  the  deficiencies  in  bathing 
facilities,  sleeping  accommodations,  latrines,  the  poor 
condition  of  the  guard-houses  and  prisons,  and  discusses  in 
thoroughgoing  manner  the  ventilation  and  heating,  for 
which  he  recommends  a  "ventilating  double  fire-place"  of 
his  own  invention,  consisting  of  two  stoves  placed  back  to 
back  with  an  interspace  for  warming  fresh  air,  as  in  the 
Galton  fire-place.  The  most  interesting  part  of  Circular 
No.  4  is  his  sweeping  criticism  of  the  hospitals.  This  was 
the  basis  of  his  future  work  in  hospital  construction.  He 
points  out  that,  prior  to  the  famous  report  made  to  the 
French  Academy  of  Sciences  by  J.  R.  Tenon  in  1788, 
there  had  been  no  true  scientific  hospital  construction,  so 
far  as  economy  of  administration  and  avoidance  of  con- 
tagion were  concerned.  The  earlier  European  hospitals,  be- 
fore the  great  hospital  scandal  of  the  eighteenth  century, 
which  demonstrated  most  of  them  to  be  hotbeds  of  disease, 
were  usually  large,  rambling,  many-storied  structures  of 
the  block  or  corridor  type;  or  else  dwelling  houses,  bar- 
racks, or  other  buildings  abandoned  to  this  purpose. 
Tenon's  report,  which  first  laid  down  the  true  principles 
of  model  hospital  construction,  insisted  that  the  hospital 


156  JoHn  SHa-w  Billings 

wards  should  be  in  isolated  pavilions  of  definite  dimensions 
and  capacity,  containing  only  a  certain  number  of  beds 
each,  and  with  windows  on  opposite  sides,  extending  to 
the  ceiling.  The  object  was  to  get  the  maximum  of  sun- 
light and  fresh  air  into  the  wards,  the  ideal  condition  being 
1 200  cubic  feet  of  fresh  air  for  each  bed  or  3000  cubic  feet 
per  patient  per  hour.  The  merits  of  the  pavilion  system 
had  been  amply  tested  by  Miss  Nightingale's  experience, 
in  the  Report  of  the  English  Barrack  Commission  of  1858 
and  in  our  own  Civil  War,  but  the  true  principles  of  hospi- 
tal construction  had  not  been  officially  adopted  in  our 
Army  prior  to  the  Surgeon-General's  Circular  of  April  22, 
1867.  Most  of  the  cuts  of  United  States  Army  hospitals 
which  Billings  gives  "are  simply  inserted,"  he  says,  "as 
samples  of  ingenious  modes  of  'how  not  to  do  it."  The 
only  hospitals  he  approved  of  were  those  at  Fort  Schuyler 
and  that  at  Willet's  Point  (now  Fort  Totten,)  built  by 
General  Abbot,  of  the  Engineers,  which  he  regarded  as  the 
best.  He  goes  on  to  say : 

It  is  manifestly  impracticable  to  plan  a  hospital  which  shall 
be  equally  suited  to  the  burning  mesas  of  Arizona  and  to  the 
bleak  North  Atlantic  coast.  Nor  can  it  be  expected  that  the 
hospitals  of  a  temporary  post,  often  little  more  than  a  camp, 
shall  be  equal  in  structure  and  comfort  to  those  of  a  permanent 
post.  But  even  a  log  or  a  mud  hut  need  not  be  built  in  absolute 
and  direct  defiance  of  all  sanitary  laws,  and  especially  to  be 
deprecated  is  the  turning  over  of  old  barracks  or  officers' 
quarters  to  hospital  use. 

In  those  days,  army  hospitals  were  put  up  by  contract 
without  the  co-operation  of  medical  men,  cheapness  being 
the  sole  object.  Billings  says  that  if  the  money  used  for 
such  big  piles  as  the  New  York  civil  hospitals  or  the  Rhode 
Island  or  Cincinnati  hospitals  were  divided  into  two  equal 
parts,  and  one  half  used  for  building  an  ordinary  frame 


Official  Life  in  "WasHingfton  157 

hospital  of  the  same  capacity  as  these  huge  structures  of 
stone  and  brick,  the  other  half  being  put  out  at  interest  at 
six  per  cent.,  a  complete  new  hospital  could  be  substituted 
every  twelve  years  for  an  indefinite  period,  with  the  ad- 
vantage of  avoiding  "hospitalism, "  that  mysterious  and 
invisible  enemy  which  made  old  hospitals  veritable 
saturated  nests  of  septicaemia,  pyaemia,  gangrene,  erysipe- 
las, and  other  modes  of  wound-infection.  This  was  Bil- 
lings's  view  up  to  the  time  when  he  entered  upon  the 
actual  construction  of  the  Johns  Hopkins  Hospital,  but  at 
that  later  period  the  ideas  of  Pasteur,  Lister,  and  Semmel- 
weis  had  gained  universal  acceptance,  and  he  was  in 
position  to  abandon  the  idea  of  temporary  hospitals  in 
favour  of  permanent  structures,  as  of  old.  He  concludes 
his  report  on  the  deficiencies  in  the  proper  care  of  United 
States  troops  as  follows: 

The  ultimate  cause  of  the  defect  is,  of  course,  ignorance,  the 
immediate  cause  being  a  desire  for  economy,  praiseworthy  in 
itself,  but  producing  results  which  are  the  reverse  of  its  object ; 
for  a  saving  in  boards  and  brick,  at  the  expense  of  the  health 
and  life  of  the  soldier,  cannot  be  considered  a  commendable 
thrift.  It  is  clearly  both  the  interest  and  duty  of  the  Govern- 
ment to  reduce,  as  much  as  possible,  the  annual  loss  to  the 
Army  resulting  from  sickness,  invaliding,  desertion  and  death ; 
and  this  can  only  be  effected  by  a  judicious  application  of  the 
laws  of  sanitary  science. 

The  report  abounds  in  such  shrewd  observations  as  the 
following : 

When,  at  the  same  post  and  with  the  same  troops,  the 
accession  of  a  new  medical  officer  is  followed  by  a  marked 
increase  or  diminution  of  the  number  taken  on  sick  report, 
or  by  a  marked  change  in  the  nomenclature  of  diseases 
reported,  while  the  general  condition  of,  and  the  relative 
mortality  at,  the  post  remains  the  same,  it  seems  fair  to 


158  JoHn  SHaw  Billings 

presume  that  the  change  is  due  more  to  the  doctor  than  to  any 
other  cause. 

When  a  new  physician  arrives  at  a  post  the  number  "taken 
sick"  usually  increases  at  first,  as  those  disposed  to  shirk  duty, 
and  the  minor  chronic  cases  will  usually  wish  to  try  the  new 
surgeon;  but,  after  this  temporary  increase  passes  off,  it  is 
found  that  the  ratio  of  sickness  may  vary  as  much  as  40  per 
cent.,  depending  on  the  physician.  As  this  same  cause  of  error 
must  exist,  more  or  less,  in  all  medical  statistics,  but  is  seldom 
thought  of,  and,  indeed,  can  only  be  determined  under  such 
circumstances  as  exist  in  the  Army,  I  have  thought  it  worth 
mentioning. 

The  following  is  of  unusual  interest  under  present 
conditions : 

The  whole  system  of  military  organization  is  an  education 
and  a  preparation  for  emergencies  and  circumstances  which 
may  never  occur.  And  as  troops  are  drilled  in  the  use  of  arms, 
though  no  enemy  be  present,  so  should  they  be  familiar  with 
the  system  which  is  necessary  on  the  part  of  the  medical  de- 
partment in  time  of  war  or  epidemics.  And  to  refuse  to  furnish 
the  necessary  accommodations  and  facilities  to  medical  officers 
is  very  much  like  refusing  to  allow  soldiers  to  use  muskets, 
cannon,  or  horses  in  time  of  peace. 

Our  military  system  is,  or  should  be,  organized  on  the  theory 
that  it  is  to  act  as  a  nucleus  and  organizing  power  for  the  force 
to  be  called  into  existence  in  time  of  war.  When  a  war  breaks 
out  we  must  have  large  hospitals;  if  these  are  to  be  efficient 
they  must  be  thoroughly  organized.  The  knowledge  of  this 
organization  is  best  obtained  by  practising  it  previously  on  a 
small  scale. 

The  report  of  1875  on  the  hygiene  of  the  United  States 
Army  (Circular  No.  8)  shows  that,  following  the  publica- 
tion of  Circular  No.  4,  things  had  taken  a  more  favourable 
turn.  In  particular,  the  Adjutant-General's  order  of 


Official  Life  in.  "Washington  159 

1874  clearly  defined  the  duties  of  the  medical  officers,  so 
that  any  proper  hygienic  investigations  made  by  them 
should  not  be  regarded  by  their  ranking  officers  of  the 
line  as  "a  species  of  espionage."  In  this  report,  Billings 
files  a  strong  brief  for  the  proper  hygiene  and  personal  well- 
being  of  the  enlisted  man.  He  reiterates  his  request  for 
"cheap,  strong  bathing-tubs  or  other  means  of  cleansing 
the  whole  body, "  and  recommends  jets  or  showers  instead 
of  tubs,  particularly  an  octagonal  system  of  shower  baths 
around  a  stove,  like  that  used  at  Rouen.  He  points  out 
that  one  hundred  men  a  year  are  lost  through  the  respira- 
tory diseases  caused  by  overcrowding  and  bad  ventilation. * 
"Every  man  should  have  his  sixty  feet  of  floor  space  as 
much  as  his  ration. "  He  is  especially  severe  in  condemna- 
tion of  two-story  beds,  such  as  travellers  endure  on  ocean 
liners,  and  from  evils  resulting  from  requiring  the  soldier 
to  sleep  without  sheets  or  pillows.  Again,  since  "armies 
travel  upon  their  bellies,"  he  fights  the  enlisted  man's 
battle  against  any  proposed  reduction  of  rations,  urging 
that  the  commutation  value  of  an  individual  ration  be  at 
least  twenty-five  per  cent,  in  excess  of  what  is  required, 
"to  prevent  suffering."  He  points  out  the  need  of 
plenty  of  ice  at  the  southern  posts,  recommends  that 
baking-powder  and  lime-juice  be  made  part  of  the  ration 
for  scouts  and  expeditions,  and,  from  his  experience  with 
scurvy  in  the  Civil  War,  that  canned  tomatoes  be  issued 
at  posts  where  fresh  vegetables  cannot  be  had.  The  regu- 
lation, then  in  force,  of  changing  company  cooks  every 
ten  days  (practically  disregarded  in  many  cases)  is  dis- 
countenanced as  very  bad  for  the  soldiers'  welfare.  He 
urges  that  the  chief  cook  should  be  a  permanent  detail, 
specially  enlisted,  with  extra  pay,  that  schools  for  instruc- 
tion of  cooks  should  be  established  at  recruiting  stations, 

"This  is  the   same   condition  which  Surgeon -General   Gorgas   found 
among  the  miners  of  the  Rand,  South  Africa,  in  1913-14. 


160  JoKn  SHaw  Billings 

as  in  the  English  service,  and  that  a  manual  for  instruc- 
tions for  cooks  should  be  prepared,  with  diet  tables  and 
culinary  directions  for  all  climates  and  seasons.  In  dis- 
cussing the  military  hospitals,  he  notes  with  approval  that 
the  medical  officers  now  look  after  their  construction  and 
repair,  and  that,  following  the  appropriation  of  June,  1872, 
$100,000  has  been  granted  annually  for  this  purpose. 
This,  however,  he  still  regards  as  insufficient.  He  gives 
descriptions  of  the  West  Point  Hospital  for  cadets  and 
the  Barnes  Hospital  at  the  Soldiers'  Home,  a  fifty-bed 
brick  structure  planned  by  him  in  1873,  as  "two  perma- 
nent and  rather  expensive  hospitals"  of  the  period.  The 
barrack  or  temporary  structures,  to  be  torn  down  every 
ten  years,  were  now  fully  in  vogue,  but  Billings  states  the 
experience  of  the  time  to  be  that  hospitalism  could  not  be 
warded  off  even  by  the  pavilion  system.  He  points  out 
that  the  real  danger  of  hospitalism  arises  from  the  solid, 
probably  living,  organic  particles,  which  saturate  not 
only  walls  and  floors  but  "baize  screens,  woollen  clothing 
of  attendants,  upholstered  furniture"  as  well  as  the  dress- 
ings of  wounds.  He  hints  at  our  modern  knowledge  of 
living  disease  carriers  when  he  says  that  "these  organic 
poisons  are  necessarily  more  dangerous  to  others  than  to 
the  one  who  produces  them.  The  only  available  preven- 
tive, then,  is  a  more  minute  classification  and  isolation  of 
contagious  cases."  In  discussing  ventilation,  he  reports 
with  candour  upon  his  own  proposal  of  a  ventilating  fire- 
place, which,  tried  out  in  about  a  dozen  instances,  did  not 
turn  out  uniformly  well,  in  part  from  defective  construc- 
tion of  the  stoves,  but  more  particularly  because  such 
stoves,  while  heating  well  at  ordinary  temperatures,  were 
total  failures  with  the  outside  air  below  zero.  He  con- 
cludes that,  under  the  latter  condition,  it  would  be  im- 
possible to  heat  and  ventilate  a  barrack  hospital  at  one 
and  the  same  time,  and  recommends  the  use  of  ordinary 


Official  Life  in  Washington  161 

cast-iron  cylinder  stoves.  His  report  concludes  with  a 
brief  reference  to  the  adobe  houses  used  in  the  south-west, 
which,  while  held  in  dubious  esteem  by  some,  he  regards 
as  sanitary  enough  for  temporary  use. 

About  the  time  of  this  publication,  Dr.  Billings  became 
active  in  the  affairs  of  the  American  Public  Health  Asso- 
ciation, of  which  he  was  made  president  in  1880.  His 
first  contribution  to  its  transactions  was  a  committee 
report  on  the  plan,  then  under  consideration,  for  a  system- 
atic sanitary  survey  of  the  United  States,  to  which  he 
appended  a  brief  essay  on  medical  topography  in  its 
historical  and  other  relations.  The  plan,  in  brief,  was 
based  upon  a  series  of  upwards  of  four  hundred  questions, 
constituting  a  minute  and  searching  inquiry  into  all 
aspects  of  the  hygienic  conditions  of  a  given  locality  and 
the  local  and  preventable  causes  of  disease  at  that  point. 
This  questionnaire,  the  separate  sections  of  which  were 
carefully  drawn  up  by  different  experts  on  Dr.  Billings's 
committee,  it  was  proposed  to  submit  to  all  American 
cities  and  towns  of  five  thousand  inhabitants  and  upwards, 
there  being  at  that  time  about  325  such  localities  in  the 
United  States.  This  idea  of  triangulating  a  vast  territory 
in  its  hygienic  and  medical  relations  undoubtedly  had  its 
germ  in  the  epoch-making  work  of  Daniel  Drake  on  the 
diseases  of  the  Mississippi  Valley.  As  to  the  value  of  the 
proposed  survey,  Dr.  Billings  remarks  that:  "It  would 
establish  the  foundations  of  a  national  public  hygiene  in 
this  country,"  and  that  "until  some  such  sanitary  survey 
is  accomplished,  state  medicine  in  this  country  cannot 
take  rank  as  a  science,  but  must  rest  mainly  upon  individ- 
ual opinion  and  hypotheses,  as  it  now  does."1  It  was  a 
proposition  involving  the  expenditure  of  much  time,  labour, 
and  money,  and  it  is  needless  to  say  that,  given  the  large 
number  of  leading  questions  and  the  difficulty  of  getting 

1  Am.  Pub.  Health  Assoc.  Papers  and  Reports,  1874-$,  N.  Y.,  1876,  ii.,  44. 


162  JoHn  SHaw  Billings 

any  one  to  go  to  the  trouble  and  expense  of  obtaining 
answers,  the  project  was  soon  abandoned. 

In  1879,  Dr.  Billings  was  appointed  vice-president  of 
the  new  and  short-lived  departure  in  public  hygiene,  the 
National  Board  of  Health.  This  attempt  at  a  central 
sanitary  organization  was  organized  by  Act  of  Congress 
on  March  3d,  of  the  same  year,  and  to  it  powers  of  large 
prophylactic  scope  were  given  by  the  National  Quarantine 
Act  of  June  2d.  Under  the  provisions  of  the  Act  of  March 
3d,  this  Board  was  to  consist  of  a  medical  officer  each  of  the 
Army,  the  Navy,  and  the  Marine  Hospital  Service,  and 
seven  other  members,  to  be  appointed  by  the  President  or 
detailed  with  his  approval.  Of  these,  Dr.  James  L.  Cabell, 
of  Virginia,  was  appointed  President,  Dr.  Billings,  Vice- 
President,  and  Dr.  Thomas  J.  Turner,  United  States 
Navy,  Secretary.  Among  the  other  members  were  Dr. 
Preston  H.  Bailhache,  of  the  Marine  Hospital  Service, 
Dr.  Henry  I.  Bowditch,  of  Boston,  and  Dr.  Stephen  Smith, 
of  New  York.  The  Board  was  organized  on  April  2d,  and 
met  eight  times  during  its  first  year  of  existence,  at  Atlanta, 
Nashville,  and  Washington,  D.  C.  Many  attempts  to 
found  such  a  national  health  council  had  been  made,  but 
had  fallen  through  for  various  reasons,  and  the  principal 
incentive  for  the  legislation  of  March  3,  1879,  was  un- 
doubtedly the  yellow  fever  epidemic  of  1878.  This  Act, 
which  was  strongly  opposed  by  the  Surgeon-General  of 
the  Marine  Hospital  Service,  had  been  introduced  and 
rushed  through  just  before  the  close  of  the  session  of 
Congress.  The  duties  of  the  Board  were  to  obtain  infor- 
mation upon  all  matters  relating  to  public  health,  to  ad- 
vise the  various  Government  departments,  the  executives 
of  the  several  States,  and  the  Commissioners  of  the  District 
of  Columbia  on  any  questions  of  this  kind  which  might 
arise;  also  to  plan,  in  conjunction  with  the  National 
Academy  of  Sciences,  a  proper  scheme  for  a  national 


Official  Life  in  Washington  163 

sanitary  organization,  especially  in  connection  with 
quarantine.  After  conference  with  the  National  Academy 
and  the  leading  sanitary  organizations  and  sanitarians 
of  the  country,  it  was  decided,  by  almost  unanimous  vote, 
that  the  Board  itself  was  sufficient  unto  its  ends,  and 
should  continue  as  such ;  that  it  should  investigate  various 
specific  infectious  diseases  and  make  sanitary  surveys  of 
places  likely  to  be  visited  by  them;  that  it  should  devise 
uniform  methods  for  collecting  and  reporting  vital  statis- 
tics and  make  suitable  arrangements  for  rigorous  quaran- 
tine, especially  in  relation  to  yellow  fever.  Among  the 
important  things  accomplished  by  it  during  its  first  year 
of  existence  were  the  adoption  of  a  definite  scientific 
nomenclature  of  disease,  in  connection  with  which  Dr. 
Billings  was  in  active  correspondence  with  the  Royal 
College  of  Physicians  of  London,  then  making  the  de- 
cennial revision  of  its  own  nosological  scheme;  an  investi- 
gation of  yellow  fever  in  Cuba  by  Drs.  S.  E.  Chaille,  John 
Guiteras,  Civil  Engineer,  T.  S.  Hardie,  and  Surgeon 
George  M.  Sternberg,  United  States  Army;  an  investiga- 
tion of  the  organic  matter  in  the  air  by  Professor  Ira 
Remsen;  of  disinfectants  by  Drs.  C.  F.  Folsom  and  Pro- 
fessor C.  F.  Chandler;  of  adulterations  of  food  and  drugs; 
of  sewers,  soils,  and  diseases  of  food-producing  animals; 
and  sanitary  surveys  around  New  York  Harbour  and  in 
Memphis,  Tennessee,  which  latter  was  under  the  special 
direction  of  Dr.  Billings.  In  connection  with  quarantine, 
the  Board  decided,  under  the  Act  of  June  2d,  that  the 
diseases  necessitating  closure  of  ports  and  exclusion  of 
vessels  would  be  cholera,  yellow  fever,  plague,  small-pox, 
relapsing  and  typhus  fevers,  but  its  functions  were  not 
clearly  enough  defined  by  the  Act  to  give  it  full  powers  of 
quarantine.  Conflict  with  local  authorities  as  to  the 
States  rights  principle  restricted  its  activities  and  led,  in 
the  end,  to  its  dissolution.  This  opposition,  says  Billings, 


164  JoHn.  SHaw  Billings 

"came  mainly  from  medical  men,  whose  solicitude  lest 
local  self-government  should  be  interfered  with  seems  to 
have  been  much  greater  than  that  of  business  men  or 
politicians. "  He  points  out  that  in  spite  of  this  the  epi- 
demic of  yellow  fever  in  the  summer  of  1879  was  greatly 
restricted  in  Illinois  and  the  Southern  States,  without 
necessitating  the  decrease  of  interstate  commerce  which 
had  obtained  during  the  epidemic  of  1878.  In  1880, 
Billings  read  to  the  Public  Health  Section  of  the  American 
Medical  Association,  of  which  he  was  chairman,  a  review 
of  the  activities  of  the  Board,  "in  order  that  some  account 
of  this  new  medical  departure  shall  form  a  part  of  the 
records  of  this  body,  so  that  Macaulay's  New  Zealander 
will  be  able  to  prepare  a  full  report  on  the  subject,  if  he 
can  only  obtain  a  complete  set  of  the  Transactions  of  the 
American  Medical  Association."  He  points  out  that  the 
creation  of  the  Board  was,  in  a  sense,  premature,  as  being 
forced  into  existence  through  a  yellow  fever  scare,  and 
that  "as  soon  as  this  emergency  had  passed,  it  would  find 
itself  without  the  support  of  an  educated  public  opinion, 
and  upon  such  an  opinion  alone,  under  our  form  of  govern- 
ment, can  such  an  organization  securely  rest."  This 
luminous  sentence  goes  to  the  very  heart  of  the  difficulty 
encountered  in  advancing  State  medicine  or  any  other 
phase  of  public  welfare  in  this  country.  It  had  been  ob- 
jected against  the  proposed  system  of  quarantine  to  be 
inaugurated  by  the  Board  of  Health  that  the  Northern 
States  and  cities  took  care  of  themselves  in  this  respect 
and  that  it  was  unjust  to  tax  the  whole  country  in  order  to 
protect  those  Southern  ports  and  cities  which  did  not  do 
likewise.  To  this  Billings  replied  that  the  strength  of  a 
chain  is  precisely  in  its  weakest  link,  that  the  mere  interest 
on  the  money  which  had  been  raised  during  the  last  fifteen 
years  by  voluntary  contributions  in  the  North  to  aid  the 
South,  when  stricken  with  yellow  fever,  would  more  than 


Official  Life  in  W^asKington  165 

pay  the  expenses  of  the  quarantine  proposed,  and  that  the 
only  remedy  for  the  evils  connected  with  local  quarantines 
being  the  education  of  the  people  in  this  regard, ' '  it  seems, 
on  the  whole,  expedient  that  the  cost  of  this  education 
should  be  borne  by  the  general  government. "  As  to  the 
National  Board  itself,  he  concludes  that  "for  a  premature 
birth,  the  infant  seems  healthy  and  lively,  but  it  would  be 
rash  to  make  any  prophecies  as  to  its  immediate  future, 
since  this  depends  so  largely  upon  the  contingencies  of  the 
next  few  months. " 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  its  operations  extended  over  a 
number  of  years,  during  which  time  it  published  several 
bulky  volumes  of  reports  and  four  volumes  of  bulletins, 
containing,  among  other  things  of  importance,  Billings's 
reports  on  the  registration  of  vital  statistics  and  the 
proper  nomenclature  of  disease;  but  its  activities  were 
gradually  let  and  hindered  by  the  usual  States  rights 
jealousies  and  the  opposition  of  the  then  Surgeon-General 
of  the  Marine  Hospital  Service.  The  disputes  fomented 
sometimes  took  on  a  serio-comic  character.  Billings  was 
not  the  sort  of  man  to  remain  long  in  an  environment 
which  did  not  suit  him  or  in  which  little  could  be  accom- 
plished. Living  up  to  the  device,  "environment  wins," 
he  resigned  his  vice-presidency  in  1882.  The  Board  itself, 
a  premature  birth,  as  he  had  described  it,  gradually  died 
out  from  lack  of  appropriations  about  1886.  His  helpful 
attitude  towards  it  during  its  lifetime  may  be  sensed 
from  one  or  two  of  his  letters  to  Sir  Henry  Acland  (Ox- 
ford): 

December  21,  1881.  Congress  is  in  session  and  I  have  been 
stirring  up  matters  to  have  some  action  taken  for  properly 
draining  the  river  front  of  this  city  to  see  whether  it  is  not 
possible  to  free  it  from  malaria.  A  special  committee  of  the 
Senate  is  engaged  on  the  matter  and  I  am  quite  confident  that 


166  JoKn  SHaw  Billings 

funds  will  be  granted  and  work  commenced  in  the  spring.  As 
to  the  National  Board  of  Health,  its  prospects  are  good.  I 
think  this  Congress  will  pass  a  law  with  regard  to  adulteration 
of  food  and  drugs  which  will  give  the  Board  new  duties. 

April  17,  1882.  The  National  Board  of  Health  is  going 
quietly  on.  I  am  organizing  an  investigation  into  malaria 
for  it  and  hope  for  some  good  results.  At  all  events,  we 
can  prove  or  disprove  certain  theories  which  have  been 
advanced. 

The  period  1875-76  was  an  important  one  in  Dr. 
Billings's  life,  for  about  this  time  he  attained  the  national 
and  international  prominence  which  he  had  honestly  earned 
by  his  arduous  labours  of  the  last  five  years.  In  1875,  his 
plans  for  the  construction  of  the  proposed  Johns  Hopkins 
Hospital  were  selected  by  the  Trustees  of  the  Foundation 
as  the  best,  and  for  the  next  twenty-five  years  he  was  to  be 
actively  engaged  in  its  construction  and  organization.  In 
the  same  year  he  published  his  important  Bibliography  of 
Cholera,  as  part  of  the  Government  report  on  the  cholera 
epidemic  in  the  United  States,  giving  the  complete 
literature  on  the  subject  to  that  date.  In  the  following 
year,  he  published  his  Specimen  Fasciculus  of  a  Catalogue 
of  the  Surgeon- General's  Library,  intended  as  a  ballon  d' 
essai  for  the  future  Index  Catalogue.  In  the  same  year 
was  published  his  centennial  survey  of  the  medical  litera- 
ture and  institutions  of  the  United  States,  in  which  he  made 
his  mark  as  an  acute  and  discriminating  judge  in  a  field 
in  which  the  earlier  kind  of  writing  had  been  florid,  and 
for  the  most  part  uncritical.  This  appeared  in  the  volume 
A  Century  of  American  Medicine,  1776-1876,  and  bears 
as  a  motto  the  scriptural  "Wherefore,  by  their  fruits  ye 
shall  know  them. "  At  the  start,  he  makes  a  clean  sweep 
of  the  colonial  medical  literature  of  America,  as  of  little 
value: 


Official  Life  in  Washington  167 

At  the  commencement  of  the  Revolutionary  War,  we  had 
one  medical  book  by  an  American  author,  three  reprints,  and 
about  twenty  pamphlets.  The  book  referred  to  is  the  Plain, 
Precise,  Practical  Remarks  on  the  Treatment  of  Wounds  and 
Fractures,  by  Dr.  John  Jones,  New  York,  1775.  It  is  simply 
a  compilation  from  Ranby,  Pott  and  others,  and  contains  but 
one  original  observation,  viz.,  a  case  of  trephining  followed  by 
hernia  cerebri. 

After  listing  the  books  usually  found  in  the  libraries  of 
the  colonial  physicians,  and  giving  a  brief  account  of  the 
earlier  medical  schools  and  scientific  academies,  he  passes 
in  rapid  review,  Benjamin  Rush,  whose  writings  "excel 
in  manner  rather  than  matter,"  James  Tytler,  Noah  Web- 
ster, William  Curry,  and  Caspar  Wistar,  and  discounts  the 
medical  theses  of  the  time  in  the  denunciation  of  Professor 
Gross  that,  in  the  last  fifty  years,  "not  one  in  fifty  affords 
the  slightest  evidence  of  competency,  proficiency,  or 
ability,  in  the  candidate  for  graduation. "  He  singles  out 
John  Leigh's  experimental  study  of  opium  as  a  contribu- 
tion of  value  but,  as  starting  with  the  year  1776,  his  survey 
omits  all  reference  to  the  more  important  clinical  contribu- 
tions of  William  Douglas  (1736),  Thomas  Cadwalader 
(1740),  John  Bard  (1749),  Samuel  Bard  (1771),  and  Heze- 
kiah  Beardsley  (1788).  The  tendency  of  the  rest  of  Bil- 
lings's  essay  is  for  the  most  part  extremely  critical,  even  to 
the  point  of  nil  admirari,  and  it  may  be  said  that  nothing 
was  ever  more  needed  in  this  country  than  a  critique 
of  this  kind.  American  physicians  of  the  period,  even 
Marion  Sims,  had  not  grasped  the  Greek  poet's  idea, 
emphasized  by  Matthew  Arnold  in  speaking  of  American 
literature,  that  "excellence  dwells  among  rocks  hardly 
accessible,  and  a  man  must  almost  wear  his  heart  out 
before  he  can  reach  her.  Whoever  talks  of  excellence  as 
common  and  abundant,  is  on  the  way  to  lose  all  right 
standard  of  excellence.  And  when  the  right  standard  of 


168  JoHn  SHaw  Billing's 

excellence  is  lost,  it  is  not  likely  that  much  which  is  excel- 
lent will  be  produced."  It  is  safe  to  say  that,  after  the 
publication  of  Billings's  essay,  and  in  connection  with  his 
subsequent  publication  of  the  Index  Catalogue,  the  qual- 
ity, and,  in  consequence,  the  status  of  American  medical 
literature  was  materially  improved.  The  names  selected 
by  Billings  for  especial  approbation  are  Godman,  Morton, 
Beaumont,  the  elder  Mitchell,  Drake,  Gerhard,  T.  R. 
Beck,  and  Isaac  Ray,  and  no  one  will  challenge  the  accu- 
racy of  his  selection  as  far  as  it  goes.  With  men  like  God- 
man and  Drake,  whose  early  evolution  was  somewhat 
similar  to  his  own  and  who  were  like  him  in  perseverance 
and  ability,  he  had  an  especial  sympathy.  He  says 
nothing  of  the  important  clinical  work  of  such  men  as 
Otto,  James  Jackson,  father  and  son,  Elisha  North,  John 
Ware,  or  Jacob  Bigelow,  names  which  again  have  only  come 
into  prominence  of  late  years  through  the  recent  intensive 
study  of  clinical  medicine.  As  a  good  example  of  the 
haphazard  way  in  which  the  subject  was  studied  in  the 
early  days,  Billings  instances  the  case  of  the  "milk- 
sickness"  or  "trembles,"  described  by  Daniel  Drake,  in 
1809,  and  concerning  which  four  pamphlets  and  one 
hundred  and  ten  journal  articles  had  been  written. 

It  cannot  be  said  to-day  that  we  have  any  definite  know- 
ledge as  to  the  pathology  or  causes  of  this  affection,  or  that, 
so  far  as  man  is  concerned,  we  are  absolutely  certain  that  there 
is  any  special  disease  which  should  be  thus  named.  ...  It 
has  been  said  to  be  caused  by  certain  plants,  yet  no  scientific 
experiments  have  been  made  on  the  effects  of  these  plants. 
No  attempt  has  been  made  to  produce  the  disease  in  an  animal 
remote  from  infested  localities  by  the  use  of  the  suspected 
plants,  or  better,  by  the  use  of  an  extract  containing  the 
active  principles;  no  chemical  or  microscopical  examinations 
have  been  made;  in  short,  we  have  nothing  but  an  account  of 
symptoms,  and  much  of  that  is  from  hearsay. 


Official  Life  in  WasHingfton  169 

The  essay  concludes  with  an  exhaustive  historical  and 
statistical  account  of  the  medical  periodicals,  societies, 
libraries,  museums,  and  medical  schools  of  the  United 
States.  The  concluding  paragraphs  are  impressive  and  at 
the  same  time  are  the  best  statement,  in  a  short  space, 
of  the  actual  conditions  of  American  medicine  in  the 
Centennial  year: 

In  attempting  to  estimate  the  quantity  and  value  of  the 
additions  made  by  the  medical  profession  of  this  country  to 
the  world's  stock  of  knowledge  of  the  laws  of  healthy  and 
diseased  action,  and  the  means  of  modifying  these  actions, 
it  is  very  difficult  to  make  generalizations  which  shall  be  at 
once  clear,  comprehensive,  and  correct.  This  difficulty  be- 
comes an  impossibility,  if  we  are  to  speak  of  the  education, 
mental  characteristics,  and  professional  qualifications  of  the 
whole  body  of  physicians  of  this,  or  any  other  country,  since 
only  the  most  vague  and  indefinite  statements  will  hold  good. 
We  have  had,  and  still  have,  a  very  few  men  who  love  science 
for  its  own  sake,  whose  chief  pleasure  is  in  original  investi- 
gations, and  to  whom  the  practice  of  their  profession  is  mainly, 
or  only,  of  interest  as  furnishing  material  for  observation  and 
comparison.  Such  men  are  to  be  found  for  the  most  part  only 
in  large  cities  where  libraries,  hospitals,  and  laboratories  are 
available  for  their  needs,  although  some  of  them  have  pre- 
ferred the  smaller  towns  and  villages  as  fields  of  labour.  The 
work  of  our  physicians  of  this  class  has  been  for  the  most  part 
fragmentary,  and  is  found  in  scattered  papers  and  essays 
which  have  been  pointed  out  in  preceding  essays;  but  buds 
and  flowers,  rather  than  ripened  fruit,  are  what  we  have  to 
offer.  Of  the  highest  grade  of  this  class  we  have  thus  far 
produced  no  specimens;  the  John  Hunter,  or  Virchow,  of  the 
United  States,  has  not  yet  given  any  sign  of  existence. 

We  have  in  our  cities,  great  and  small,  a  much  larger  class  of 
physicians  whose  principal  object  is  to  obtain  money,  or 
rather  the  social  position,  pleasures  and  power  which  money 
only  can  bestow.  They  are  clear-headed,  shrewd,  practical 


170  JoKn  SHa-w  Billings 

men,  well  educated,  because  "it  pays"  and  for  the  same  rea- 
son they  take  good  care  to  be  supplied  with  the  best  instru- 
ments, and  the  latest  literature.  Many  of  them  take  up 
specialties  because  the  work  is  easier,  and  the  hours  of  labour 
are  more  under  their  control  than  in  general  practice.  They 
strive  to  become  connected  with  hospitals  and  medical  schools, 
not  for  the  love  of  mental  exertion,  or  of  science  for  its  own 
sake,  but  as  a  respectable  means  of  advertising,  and  of  obtain- 
ing consultations.  They  write  and  lecture  to  keep  their 
names  before  the  public,  and  they  must  do  both  well,  or  fall 
behind  in  the  race.  They  have  the  greater  part  of  the  valu- 
able practice,  and  their  writings,  which  constitute  the  greater 
part  of  our  medical  literature,  are  respectable  in  quality  and 
eminently  useful. 

They  are  the  patrons  of  medical  literature,  the  active  work- 
ing members  of  municipal  medical  societies,  the  men  who  are 
usually  accepted  as  the  representatives  of  the  profession,  not 
only  here,  but  in  all  civilized  countries;  they  may  be  famous 
physicians  and  great  surgeons  in  the  usual  sense  of  the  words, 
and  as  such  and  only  as  such,  should  they  receive  the  honour 
which  is  justly  their  due.  They  work  for  the  present,  and  they 
have  their  reward  in  their  own  generation. 

There  is  another  large  class,  whose  defects  in  general  culture 
and  in  knowledge  of  the  latest  improvements  in  medicine 
have  been  much  dwelt  upon  by  those  disposed  to  take  gloomy 
views  of  the  condition  of  medical  education  in  this  country. 
The  preliminary  education  of  these  physicians  was  defective, 
in  some  cases  from  lack  of  desire  for  it,  but  in  the  great  major- 
ity from  lack  of  opportunity,  and  their  work  in  the  medical 
school  was  confined  to  so  much  memorizing  of  text -books  as 
was  necessary  to  secure  a  diploma.  In  the  course  of  practice 
they  gradually  obtain  from  personal  experience,  sometimes  of  a 
disagreeable  kind,  a  knowledge  of  therapeutics,  which  enables 
them  to  treat  the  majority  of  their  cases  as  successfully, 
perhaps,  as  their  brethren  more  learned  in  theory.  Occasion- 
ally they  contribute  a  paper  to  a  journal,  or  a  report  to  a 
medical  society;  but  they  would  rather  talk  than  write,  and 
find  it  very  difficult  to  explain  how  or  why  they  have  sue- 


Official  Life  in  "Washington  171 

ceeded,  being  like  many  excellent  cooks  in  this  respect.  They 
are  honest,  conscientious,  hard-working  men,  who  are  inclined 
to  place  great  weight  on  their  experience,  and  to  be  rather 
contemptuous  of  what  they  call  "book  learning  and  theories. " 
To  them  our  medical  literature  is  indebted  for  a  few  inter- 
esting observations,  and  valuable  suggestions  in  therapeutics 
but  for  the  most  part,  their  experience,  being  unrecorded,  has 
but  a  local  usefulness. 

These  three  classes  have  been  referred  to  simply  for  the 
purpose  of  calling  attention  to  the  fact  that,  in  speaking  of 
"the  physicians  of  the  United  States,"  it  is  necessary  to  be 
careful.  There  are  many  other  classes,  and  they  shade  into 
each  other  and  into  empiricism  in  many  ways.  In  discussions 
upon  this  subject,  it  seems  to  be  often  assumed  that  all  physi- 
cians should  possess  the  same  qualifications,  and  be  educated 
to  the  same  standard,  which,  in  one  respect,  is  like  saying  that 
they  should  all  be  six  feet  high,  and  in  another,  is  like  the  army 
regulations,  which  prescribe  the  same  ration  and  allowance  of 
clothing  for  Maine  and  Florida,  Alaska  and  Oregon.  A  young 
and  energetic  man  who  has  spent  six  years  in  obtaining  a 
university  education,  and  four  more  in  the  study  of  medicine 
as  it  ought  to  be  studied,  that  is  to  say,  in  preparing  himself 
to  study  and  investigate  for  the  rest  of  his  life,  will  not  settle 
in  certain  districts.  He  has  invested  ten  years'  labour,  and 
from  five  to  ten  thousand  dollars,  and  a  locality  which  will 
give  him  a  maximum  income  of,  perhaps,  fifteen  hundred 
dollars  per  annum  will  not  be  satisfactory,  in  part  because  the 
capital  should  bring  a  better  interest,  in  part  because  he  will 
have  acquired  tastes  which  will  make  his  life  unpleasant  in 
such  places.  Yet  these  places  must  have  physicians  of  some 
sort,  and  it  is  not  clear  as  to  how  they  are  to  be  supplied,  if  some 
of  the  universal  and  extensive  reforms  in  medical  education 
which  have  been  proposed  are  to  be  enforced. 

Certainly  the  standard  for  admission  and  for  graduation  at 
almost  all  our  medical  schools  is  too  low,  and  one-half,  at  least, 
of  these  schools  have  no  sufficient  reason  for  existence;  but  it 
is  not  probable  that  it  would  improve  matters  much  to  estab- 
lish a  uniform,  which  must,  of  course,  be  a  minimum,  standard. 


172  JoHn  SHaw  Billings 

Of  the  material  aids  and  instruments  required  for  the  ad- 
vancement of  medical  science,  such  as  hospitals,  libraries,  and 
museums,  we  have  obtained  as  much  as  could  be  expected. 
With  the  proper  use  of  those  we  now  possess  will  come  the 
demand  for,  and  the  supply  of,  still  better  facilities  for  the 
work  of  the  scholar  and  observer. 

The  defects  in  American  medicine  are  much  the  same  as 
those  observed  in  other  branches  of  science  in  this  country,  and 
to  a  great  extent  are  due  to  the  same  causes. 

Culture,  to  flourish,  requires  appreciation  and  sympathy, 
to  such  an  extent,  at  least,  that  its  utterances  shall  not  seem 
to  its  audience  as  if  in  an  unknown  tongue. 

We  have  no  reason  to  boast,  or  to  be  ashamed  of  what  we 
have  thus  far  accomplished ;  it  has  been  but  a  little  while  since 
we  have  been  furnished  with  the  means  of  investigation 
needed  to  give  our  observations  that  accuracy  and  precision 
which  alone  can  entitle  medicine  to  a  place  among  the  sciences 
properly  so  called;  and  we  may  begin  the  new  century  in  the 
hope  and  belief  that  to  us  applies  the  bright  side  of  the  maxim 
of  Cousin,  "  It  is  better  to  have  a  future  than  a  past. " 

During  1879-80,  Dr.  Billings  was  president  of  the  Ameri- 
can Public  Health  Association.  His  address,  delivered  in 
New  Orleans  on  December  7,  1880, z  contains  some  good 
examples  of  wit  and  wisdom.  At  the  outset,  he  takes  the 
broadest  view  of  sanitary  science,  maintaining  that  the 
constant  investigation  of  the  problem  "what  is  life?" 
will  always  lead  to  results  of  positive  value: 

It  is  probable — that  is  to  say,  it  is  more  than  an  even  chance 
— that,  if  we  knew  the  whole  life-history  of  half  a  dozen  minute 
organisms  with  the  reactions  which  occur  between  these  and 
surrounding  media, — such  as  air,  water,  and  organic  matter 
of  various  kinds,  dead  or  living, — we  should  know  the  causes 
of  some  of  our  most  destructive  diseases,  and  could  proceed 
with  their  prevention  upon  truly  scientific  principles. 

1  Am.  Pub.  Health  Assoc.,  Papers  and  Reports,  1880,  Boston,  1881,  vi., 
l-n. 


Official  Life  in  "WasHin§£ton  173 

He  next  passes  to  the  part  played  by  the  pulpit  and  the 
press  in  educating  the  public  in  matters  hygienic: 

Let  the  clergyman  learn  to  recognize  the  real,  palpable, 
material  bogies  which  lie  in  his  path,  and  how  these  are  to  be 
destroyed  or  driven  away ;  let  him  obtain  sufficient  knowledge 
of  the  laws  of  physics,  physiology,  and  existence,  to  keep  him 
from  certifying  blindly  to  the  efficiency  of  patent  nostrums  of 
various  kinds ;  let  him  understand  the  difference  between  skin- 
plumbing  and  good  work,  between  a  properly  ventilated 
church  and  one  in  which  the  occupants  run  great  risks  of  either 
a  headache  or  a  cold;  and  it  is  safe  to  say  that  he  will  have 
doubled  his  usefulness. 

And,  as  to  the  huge  quantity  of  editorial  writing  on 
hygiene  in  the  newspapers : 

The  daily  or  weekly  newspaper  is  also  doing  effective  work 
in  diffusing  sanitary  information  in  this  country.  ...  At  first 
sight  an  examination  of  this  mass  of  matter  might  lead  one  to 
think  that,  as  an  indication  of  progress,  it  is  a  little  like  the 
register  which  the  ingenious  Irishman  obtained  from  his  gas- 
metre  after  he  had  put  it  on  upside  down,  and  so  managed  to 
bring  the  company  in  debt  to  him  at  the  end  of  the  month.  .  .  . 
While  much  of  the  cheap  and  easy  declamation  about  sanitary 
matters,  which  is  so  prevalent,  is  of  the  nature  of  an  advertise- 
ment, yet  the  froth  and  scum  show  that  there  is  a  current 
beneath,  and  to  a  great  extent  show  its  direction.  Slowly 
but  steadily  there  has  arisen,  and  is  growing,  a  belief  that 
much  of  our  sickness  and  death  is  preventable;  that  we 
ought  to  be  able  to  make  our  cities  as  healthy  as  the 
country;  to  lengthen  the  average  duration,  and  increase  the 
comfort  of  human  life;  and  from  people  of  all  conditions, 
capitalists  and  labourers,  from  the  mills  and  workshops  of 
the  North,  the  crowded  streets  of  our  great  cities,  and  the 
low-lying,  malarious  prairies  and  swamps  of  the  West  and 
South,  comes  to  the  educated  and  thinking  men  of  the 
country — to  the  engineers  and  lawyers  and  legislators,  as 


174  John  SHaw  Billings 

well  as  to  the  physicians — a  demand  to  put  away  these  plagues 
which  consume  our  children. 

Next  as  to  the  fact  that  vigorous  health  often  flourishes 
under  insanitary  conditions : 

So  far  as  personal  hygiene  is  concerned,  each  man  must,  to 
a  great  extent,  be  a  law  unto  himself,  and  learn  by  personal 
experience  what  to  do  and  what  to  avoid,  though  the  experi- 
ence of  ten  kills  him  about  the  time  the  lesson  has  been  acquired. 

The  young  man  in  good  health  and  spirits,  who  hardly  knows 
that  he  has  a  stomach,  has  a  sort  of  good-humoured  contempt 
for  those  who  advise  prudence  as  regards  tobacco  or  liquor, 
late  suppers,  etc.,  and  is  inclined  to  think  that  his  mentors 
"  would,  if  they  could  " ;  in  which  he  is  not  always  wholly  wrong, 
for  it  is  one  thing  to  preach,  and  another  to  practise.  From 
another  point  of  view,  it  may  seem  that  we  have  little  or  no 
power  over  the  causes  of  disease,  and  that,  as  Parkes  suggested, 
it  may  not  be  intended  that  man  should  be  healthy.  This 
is  going  back  to  the  old  Greek  fate  'AvdtfxT]  Aai^vcov. 

The  foundation  upon  which  all  science  rests,  is  the  belief 
that  like  causes,  under  like  circumstances,  produce  like  effects. 

"The  curse  causeless  shall  not  come."  We  do  not  believe 
that  disease  comes  by  chance,  or  by  the  intervention  of  special 
providences,  but  in  accordance  with  fixed  laws;  and  we  are 
by  no  means  disposed  to  fold  our  hands  in  a  despairing  Nihil- 
ism. "Do  not  let  us  devote  ourselves  to  the  Fates,  while 
we  yet  may  have  hope  in  the  Gods." 

As  to  the  opposition  of  municipal  governments  who 
"will  spend  millions  on  marble  city  halls  and  civic  dis- 
plays, and  yet  withhold  the  few  thousands  necessary  to 
provide  properly  lighted  and  ventilated  schoolhouses  for 
their  children,"  he  says: 

Cassandra,  the  unfortunate  daughter  of  Priam,  doomed  to 
foresee  the  coming  evils,  but  powerless  to  obtain  belief  in  her 
predictions,  or  to  induce  effort  to  avert  the  impending  storm. 


Official  Life  in  \VasHington.  175 

is  a.  type  in  more  ways  than  one  of  the  educated  sanitarian 
of  to-day.  Yet  the  cry  of  "wolf"  may  be  raised  so  often 
without  sufficient  grounds,  that  the  public  will  become  indiffer- 
ent. It  does  not  easily  distinguish  between  the  voice  of  the 
really  skilled  scientific  man  and  the  echoes  of  the  pseudo- 
sanitarian  and  alarmist;  and  in  this  branch  of  knowledge,  as 
in  those  spoken  of  by  Goethe,  "the  voices  are  few,  though  the 
echoes  are  many. "  . 

The  principal  obstacle  to  proper  sanitary  legislation  was 
the  almost  stationary  character  of  the  law  and  of  the 
minds  of  its  luminaries  also.  "When  the  sanitary  fat 
does  get  into  the  political  fire,  there  is  a  terrible  sizzling, 
and  the  result  is  often  disastrous."  Little  is  held  out  to 
the  professional  sanitarian  in  the  way  of  compensation,  and 
he  is  hindered  by  the  hopelessly  inexact  methods  of  record- 
ing vital  and  medical  statistics.  To  secure  an  accurate 
mode  of  registration  of  these  and  "to  take  an  account  of 
stock  by  making  a  sanitary  survey"  are,  Dr.  Billings 
holds,  the  two  things  of  paramount  importance  at  this 
time,  and,  he  predicts  that,  if  these  were  accomplished,  all 
other  objects  in  view  would  flow  from  them  as  a  natural 
consequence.  As  to  the  average  human  equation,  he 
quotes  with  approval,  Bentham,  who  says,  that  "in  the 
ordinary  tenure  of  human  life  there  is  a  general  habit 
of  self-preference,  which  is  not  a  reasonable  cause  of 
regret,  but  is  an  indispensable  condition  to  the  well- 
being  of  man.  Here  and  there  may  be  found  a  man 
who  will  sacrifice  self-interest  to  social  interest ;  but  such 
men  are  not  more  frequent  than  insane. "  Yet  none  the 
less,  he  urges  the  pioneers  in  social  reform  to  advance 
bravely,  even  though  "like  Saul,  the  son  of  Kish,  they 
go  forth  to  find  their  father's  asses,  and  they  don't  have 
to  hunt  long." 

In  another  address  delivered  before  the  same  Associa- 
tion, he  says: 


176  JoKn  SHaw  Billings 

Architects  now  often  pay  some  attention  to  problems  of 
ventilation,  drainage,  etc. ;  but  it  seems  to  me  that  the  members 
of  the  legal  profession  have  not  given  sufficient  consider- 
ation to  the  subject  of  public  health  ...  in  short,  that  we 
need  some  sanitary  lawyers  in  this  Association,  and  in  official 
positions  where  they  can  originate  or  direct  legislation  relat- 
ing to  this  specialty. T 

In  the  summer  of  1879,  the  city  of  Memphis,  Tennessee, 
was  visited  by  a  formidable  epidemic  of  yellow  fever. 
This  was  the  first  epidemic  which  the  National  Board  of 
Health  attempted  to  deal  with  and  they  demonstrated  that 
it  could  be  got  under  control  without  seriously  interfering 
with  commerce.  In  November  of  the  same  year,  a  com- 
mittee of  the  National  Board,  consisting  of  Dr.  Billings,  Dr. 
Charles  F.  Folsom  of  Boston,  Col.  George  E.  Waring,  Jr., 
and  others,  was  requested  to  co-operate  with  a  committee 
of  fifteen, — in  examining  into  and  reporting  upon  the  sani- 
tary condition  of  Memphis.  Billings  outlined  his  plan  of 
action  in  a  series  of  searching  questions,  informally  put,  at 
the  first  meeting  of  the  conjoined  committee,  and  after  a 
thorough  sanitary  survey  of  the  city,  made  his  report  on 
November  28, 1879.  He  pointed  out  that  many  dwelling- 
houses  and  buildings  in  Memphis  were  nests  of  infection 
by  reason  of  cellars  underneath,  containing  privy  vaults 
and  cisterns  contaminated  by  seepage  from  such  vaults, 
and  that  the  same  thing  was  true  of  the  junkshops  and 
the  general  sanitary  condition  of  the  Bayou  Gayoso.  He 
recommended  that  not  only  all  rags,  old  bedding,  and  other 
junkshop  material  but  even  unsanitary  buildings  and 
shanties  should  be  destroyed  by  the  old  Mosaic  rite  of 
incineration ;  that  the  city  should  have  a  proper  system  of 
sewerage  upon  plans  recommended  by  Colonel  Waring; 
that  there  should  be  scientific  building  regulations;  and 

1  Am.  Pub.  Health  Assoc.,  Reports  and  Papers,  1875-6,  New  York,  1877, 
iii.,  52. 


Official  Life  in  "WasHington  177 

that  the  streets  should  be  paved  with  gravel,  with  gutters 
and  curbs  of  concrete.  This  report  not  only  met  with  no 
opposition,  but  was  adopted,  as  it  were,  by  acclamation. 
The  visiting  sanitarians  were  banqueted,  and  Dr.  Billings 
was  regarded  with  a  feeling  of  gratitude  which  is  voiced 
in  the  Memphis  Appeal  (newspaper)  of  Sunday,  January 
18, 1880: 

To  say  that  to  him  is  due,  more  than  to  any  other  one  indi- 
vidual, the  present  reassuring  prospect  for  the  sanitary  regen- 
eration of  Memphis  might,  though  indisputably  true,  seem 
invidious  if  some  explanation  were  not  also  offered  of  the 
advantages  inherent  in  his  position  as  an  officer  of  the  Army 
Medical  Corps,  and  hence  free  from  all  the  limitations  and 
embarrassments  which,  of  necessity,  beset  the  civilian.  .  .  . 
His  clear,  incisive  utterances,  his  direct  level-headed  exposition 
of  our  disease,  and  the  heroic  measures  of  treatment  he  pre- 
scribes for  our  relief,  have  been  received  by  the  most  diverse 
and  conflicting  interests  with  an  unquestioning  acceptance 
which  would  be  denied  him  were  he  one  of  our  own  citizens 
or  even  a  civilian  from  abroad,  no  matter  what  his  eminence 
or  his  reputation.  .  .  .  Dr.  Billings's  visit  was  a  moral  tonic, 
which  has  invigorated  and  strengthened  every  one  engaged 
in  the  work  of  rehabilitating  the  Bluff  City. 

In  the  International  Review  for  January,  1880,  Billings 
summed  up  his  experiences  with  yellow  fever  in  a  fascinat- 
ing paper,  which  was  perhaps  the  most  important  essay  on 
the  subject  in  its  time.  The  opening  paragraphs,  designed 
to  arrest  the  reader's  attention  are  "literature"  in  the 
proper  sense: 

Since  the  beginning  of  the  eighteenth  century  seamen  have 
had  occasion  to  notice  that  sometimes,  after  a  visit  to  certain 
ports  in  the  West  Indies  or  in  Central  or  South  America,  a 
mysterious  something  has  entered  their  ships, — a  something 
which  may  in  a  few  days  turn  the  vessel  into  a  floating  pest- 


178  JoHn  SHaw  Billings 

house,  or  which  may  show  no  signs  of  its  presence  for  days  or 
weeks,  and  yet  at  the  end  of  the  voyage  may  promptly  destroy 
a  stranger  entering  the  hold ;  which  might  attack  all  the  sailors 
sleeping  on  one  side  of  the  ship  and  leave  the  rest  unharmed, — 
in  short  an  invisible,  impalpable  entity  presenting  so  many 
peculiarities  in  its  results  that  it  was  the  most  natural  thing 
in  the  world  to  imagine  it  as  being  endowed  with  the  attributes 
of  purpose  and  will,  and  to  speak  of  it  as  "Bronze  John"  or 
"Yellow  Jack." 

This  tendency  to  personify  yellow  fever  is  strong  among 
all  who  are  familiar  with  it,  and  physicians  and  nurses  who 
have  had  much  experience  of  its  vagaries  often  speak  of  them, 
and  of  Yellow  Jack,  in  much  the  same  terms  as  they  would 
speak  of  a  highly  disreputable  but  very  interesting  acquain- 
tance,— a  sort  of  Bohemian  among  diseases.  Its  course  in  a 
city  has  been  compared  to  that  of  a  tax  collector  passing  from 
house  to  house  along  a  street,  often  only  one  side  of  a  street. 
It  is  usually  stopped  by  prison  or  convent  walls,  sometimes 
affecting  but  a  few  squares,  and  again  developing  in  a  week 
into  one  of  the  most  terrible  of  epidemics.  Those  who  have 
seen  most  of  it  are  as  a  rule  least  dogmatic  in  their  asser- 
tions with  regard  to  it;  and  those  who  are  well  satisfied  as 
to  the  nature  of  its  cause,  and  are  ready  to  demonstrate 
precisely  how  its  occurrence  or  spread  may  be  prevented, 
will  usually  be  found  to  have  had  little  personal  experience 
of  its  eccentricities. 

He  points  out  that  the  clinical  phenomena  of  the  disease 
suggest  a  cause  which  "is  either  itself  capable  of  growth 
and  reproduction  outside  the  bodies  of  the  sick,  or  that  it 
is  the  product  of  something  which  has  these  qualities.  In 
other  words,  the  cause  may  be  a  minute  organism,  some- 
what like  the  yeast  plant ;  or  it  may  be  the  product  of  such 
an  organism,  like  alcohol. "  In  the  closely  reasoned  para- 
graphs that  follow,  there  occur  a  number  of  remarkable 
sentences  in  which  the  writer's  mind,  like  a  pointer  dog 
in  leash,  seems  hot  upon  the  trail  of  the  true  causal  agent 


Official   Life  in  "Washington  179 

of  the  disease,  which  was  destined  to  be  discovered,  twenty 
years  later,  by  his  friend  and  brother  officer,  Major  Walter 
Reed1: 

Many  of  the  phenomena  of  the  disease  resemble  those  pro- 
duced by  the  venom  of  the  cobra  or  rattlesnake;  and  if  such 
snakes  could  not  live  more  than  four  months  unless  they 
bite  a  human  being,  the  analogy  would  be  still  more  close. 

The  belief  that  the  disease  ever  spontaneously  originates 
from  combinations  of  filth,  heat,  moisture,  and  the  presence 
of  unprotected  persons  is  an  exercise  of  pure  faith  with  which 
science  has  nothing  to  do  at  present,  as  there  is  no  evidence  in 
its  favour,  and  certainly,  if  this  combination  could  produce  it, 
we  should  long  ago  have  heard  of  its  appearance  in  the  tropi- 
cal ports  of  Asia,  or  in  ships  visiting  the  inter- tropical  Pacific, 
whereas  it  has  never  occurred  at  these  points.  Sanitary 
shriekings  about  filth  have  had  and  still  have  their  utility  in 
calling  public  attention  to  the  evils  of  uncleanliness  of  air, 
food,  drink,  or  persons,  but  they  soon  lose  their  power  when 
used  by  amateur  hygienists  as  their  sole  stock  in  trade.  .  .  . 
There  are,  however,  two  forms  of  decaying  organic  matter 
whose  presence  has  been  so  often  connected  with  outbreaks 
of  yellow  fever  that  they  require  special  notice.  The  first  is 
in  decaying  wood,  as  in  old  ships,  piers,  wharves,  wooden 
pavements,  etc.  The  second  is  in  the  presence  of  large 
quantities  of  rotting  and  very  offensive  seaweed  mixed  with 
dead  fish,  animals,  etc.,  which  has  immediately  preceded 
several  epidemics  on  the  Gulf  coast. 

As  regards  clothing,  bedding,  etc.,  it  is  often  urged  that 
their  destruction  by  fire  is  the  best  method  of  dealing  with 
them.  As  a  matter  of  fact  the  attempt  to  carry  out  such  de- 
struction by  fire  has  often  resulted  in  a  spread  of  the  disease, 
— as  in  Memphis  in  1878,  where  the  clouds  of  smoke  from  the 

1  Major  Reed  once  said  to  the  writer  that  it  was  the  highest  ambition  of 
his  life  to  succeed  Colonel  Billings  as  Librarian  of  the  Surgeon-General's 
Office.  Billings,  with  his  unerring  judgment  of  men,  had  indeed  selected 
Reed  for  that  position,  which  he  was  destined  to  hold,  in  due  course,  for 
the  single  week,  which  ended,  alas!  with  his  untimely  death. 


i8o  JoHn  SHaw  Billings 

burning  of  infected  bedding  in  the  streets  seemed  to  be  almost 
literally  the  wings  of  pestilence,  so  certainly  did  fresh  outbreaks 
of  the  disease  appear  in  the  direction  in  which  the  cloud 
drifted.  This  is  due,  not  to  the  smoke  itself,  but  to  the 
currents  of  air  caused  by  the  heat,  and  to  the  disturbance 
of  the  infected  material.  ...  In  cold  weather  thorough  ven- 
tilation and  exposure  of  stuffs  to  the  cold  of  three  or  four 
nights  will  render  them  harmless,  and  the  more  they  are  dis- 
turbed and  shaken  while  thus  exposed  the  better. 

The  great  mass  of  the  people  agree  with  the  old  farmer  that 
"yellow  fever  can't  go  anywhere  unless  yer  tote  it!" 

Three  years  after  Reed's  discovery,  in  addressing 
the  army  medical  graduates,  Billings  remarked,  in  a 
jesting  aside,  that  had  anyone,  in  those  early  days, 
suggested  mosquitoes  as  possible  vectors  of  yellow  fever, 
he  would  have  been  sent  across  the  river  to  the  asylum 
at  St.  Elizabeth's.  The  rest  of  his  essay  is  taken  up 
with  an  exhaustive  consideration  of  the  most  rational 
means  of  preventing  the  disease,  in  regard  to  which 
he  concludes  that,  in  the  then  state  of  knowledge,  the 
best  agency  would  be  the  education  of  public  opinion 
strengthened  by  some  strong  federal  power  which  might 
intervene  at  need  in  exceptional  cases.  All  in  all,  this 
essay  is  one  of  the  most  striking  productions  of  a  mind 
which  was  in  advance  of  its  time. 


CHAPTER  IV 

THE  JOHNS  HOPKINS  HOSPITAL  AND  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

ONE  morning  in  the  spring  of  1876,  a  number  of 
gentlemen,  the  Trustees  of  the  Johns  Hopkins 
Fund,  visited  the  Library  of  the  Surgeon-Gen- 
eral's Office  for  the  purpose  of  conferring  with  Dr.  Billings 
as  to  the  best  ways  and  means  of  furthering  the  momentous 
project  they  had  in  hand.  The  details  of  the  conference 
have  not  been  recorded,  but  they  were  so  satisfactory  to 
the  Trustees  that,  on  June  28th  of  the  same  year,1  Dr. 
Billings  was  selected  by  them  as  their  Medical  Advisor 
and,  after  obtaining  the  consent  of  Surgeon-General 
Barnes,  he  forwarded  his  letter  of  acceptance  on  September 
1 8th. 

The  seal  of  the  Johns  Hopkins  Hospital  bears  the 
inscription  "Incorporated  1867."  On  March  10,  1873, 
Mr.  Johns  Hopkins,  a  wealthy  merchant  and  banker  of 
Baltimore,  Maryland,  addressed  a  communication  to  the 
Trustees  of  this  corporation,  recording  the  fact  that  he 
had  devised  to  them  thirteen  acres  of  land  (bounded  by 
Wolfe,  Monument,  Broadway,  and  Jefferson  streets), 
upon  which  to  erect  a  hospital,  and  setting  forth  his 
wishes  as  to  the  planning  and  execution  of  the  project. 

1  In  a  letter  from  Francis  T.  King,  President  of  the  Board  of  Trustees, 
dated  July  22,  1876,  and  now  on  file  in  the  records  of  the  Johns  Hopkins 
Hospital. 

181 


1 82  JoKn  SKaw  Billing's 

These  involved  no  specific  directions  as  to  the  structure 
of  the  necessary  buildings,  indeed,  as  in  the  case  of  the 
Johns  Hopkins  University,  the  donor  expressly  declined 
to  trammel  his  Trustees  with  petty  details.  ' '  I  will  fur- 
nish the  means,"  he  once  said,  "and  they  must  build  the 
Hospital. "  What  he  did  specify  was  that  a  special  fund  of 
two  million  dollars  in  real  estate,  yielding  an  annual  reve- 
nue of  $120,000,  should  be  so  managed  by  careful  steward- 
ship as  to  be  made  more  productive  if  possible.  The  annual 
interest  was  to  be  devoted  to  the  erection  of  the  hospital 
and  to  a  home  for  orphan  coloured  children.  It  was 
further  specified  that  the  hospital  should  be  for  the  benefit 
of  the  indigent  sick  of  Baltimore  and  its  environs,  "with- 
out regard  to  sex,  age  or  colour, "  and  also  for  the  recep- 
tion of  a  limited  number  of  pay  patients ;  that  the  medical 
and  surgical  staff  should  be  of  the  highest  character;  that 
a  training  school  for  female  nurses  should  be  established 
in  connection  with  the  hospital,  as  also  dispensary  accom- 
modations ;  that  the  hospital  should  be  free  from  any  sec- 
tarian influences;  and  that  it  should  ultimately  form  part 
of  the  Medical  School  of  the  University,  and  thus  further 
the  cause  of  scientific  research  and  of  medical  education. 
In  the  third  paragraph  of  these  instructions  it  was  stated 
that  the  plan  should  "provide  for  a  hospital  which  shall, 
in  structure  and  arrangement,  compare  favourably  with 
any  other  institution  of  like  character  in  this  country  or 
in  Europe. "  As  Dr.  Billings  said,  long  after,  this  phrase 

coming  from  a  shrewd  business  man  and  a  member  of  the 
Society  of  Friends,  signifies,  I  think,  to  excel,  if  possible; 
at  all  events,  that  is  the  safest  interpretation.  And  it  was 
not  this  or  that  hospital  which  was  to  be  surpassed  or  equalled 
but  all  other  hospitals  in  this  country  or  in  Europe;  Africa, 
Asia  and  Australia  being  put  out  of  the  question.  It  was  a 
large  contract. 


THe  JoHns  HopKins  Hospital  183 

Johns  Hopkins  died  on  December  24,  1873,  and,  in  his 
will  he  bequeathed  the  remainder  of  his  estate  to  the 
Hospital  and  University,  being  an  endowment  of  nearly 
three  and  a  half  million  dollars  to  each.  On  March  6, 1875, 
the  Trustees  sent  out  a  circular  letter  to  five  experts  in 
hospital  construction  in  this  country,  requesting  that 
plans  be  sent  in  setting  forth  their  ideas  as  to  construc- 
tion, heating,  ventilation,  and  administration,  with  dia- 
grammatic sketches  in  pen  or  pencil,  the  separate  plans 
to  be  ready  by  the  first  of  May.  These  plans  were  duly 
received  from  the  five  physicians  in  question,  Drs. 
John  S.  Billings,  Norton  Folsom,  Joseph  Jones,  Casper 
Morris,  and  Stephen  Smith,  and  of  these  plans  that  of  Dr. 
Billings  was  selected  as  the  best.  It  offered  alternate 
plans  for  one-  or  two-storied  buildings,  but  the  author 
strongly  advised  two-story  pavilions  as  affording  better 
administration ;  and  several  ideas  were  submitted  as  to  the 
arrangement  of  the  separate  structures,  those  specially 
recommended  by  Billings  himself  combining  the  advan- 
tages of  the  pavilion  idea  with  the  more  recent  idea  of 
detached  buildings  as  hospital  units.  The  author  further 
specified  that  the  administration  of  the  hospital  should  be 
upon  the  military  or  railroad  plan,  that  is,  under  one  head 
and  only  one;  that  it  should  have  first-class  physiological 
and  pathological  laboratories,  a  dispensary  for  out- 
patient relief,  and  that  this  department  should  be  con- 
nected with  the  building  set  apart  for  the  instruction  of 
students  and  separated  from  the  administration  buildings; 
that  clinical  instruction  should  be  mostly  given  in  the 
wards  and  out-patient  department  and  not  in  an  amphi- 
theatre, except  in  the  surgical  unit;  that  medical  cases 
should  not  be  brought  from  beds  to  an  amphitheatre;  that 
there  should  be  graded  accommodations  for  pay  and  private 
patients  in  rooms  or  suites  of  rooms;  that  there  should  be 
two  pharmacies  and  a  training  school  for  nurses;  and  that 


184  JoKn  SHaw  Billing's 

a  perfect  system  of  records,  financial,  historical,  and  clini- 
cal, should  be  kept.  As  will  appear,  Billings  laid  especial 
stress  at  the  start  on  the  necessity  of  a  medical  school 
of  much  higher  status  than  had  hitherto  existed  in  this 
country,  providing  liberally  for  the  accommodation  of 
resident  students.  He  also  recommended  the  publication 
of  annual  volumes  of  reports,  like  those  of  Guy's  or  St. 
Bartholomew's  Hospitals.  In  regard  to  Johns  Hopkins's 
request  that  the  institution  be  non-sectarian  he  says: 
"I  recommend  that  no  chaplain  be  appointed,  although  a 
chapel  should  be  provided."  In  regard  to  the  matter  of 
contagion,  he  gives  what  was  then  known  as  to  the  patho- 
genic theory  of  micro-organisms,  citing  Burdon  Sanderson's 
report  of  1 869-70,  and  points  out  the  necessity  of  isolation 
wards  not  only  for  infectious  cases,  but  also  "to  prevent 
patients  with  depraved  appetites  from  perpetuating  or 
renewing  their  maladies  by  recourse  to  the  original  cause. " 
In  regard  to  the  training  of  nurses,  he  says : 

If  a  suitable  woman  can  be  obtained  for  chief  cook,  the  main 
kitchen  would  be  a  valuable  aid  to  the  Training  School.  I 
have  never  seen  such  a  woman,  and  my  personal  experience 
in  large  hospitals  is  that  it  is  better  to  employ  as  chief  cook 
a  first-class  man,  in  which  case  the  instructions  of  the  nurses  in 
cooking  will  be  mainly  given  in  the  diet-kitchens  attached 
to  the  wards. 

After  the  acceptance  of  Dr.  Billings's  plans  by  the 
committee,  the  plans  of  the  architect  proper  were  drawn 
up  and  adapted  to  them,  and  in  connection  with  these 
Billings  made  a  series  of  reports  to  Mr.  King,  the  President 
of  the  Trustees,  which  are  his  most  valuable  and  enduring 
contributions  to  the  subject  of  hospital  construction  and 
organization.  In  the  first  of  these,  of  date  July  15,  1876, 
he  broaches  the  question  whether  it  would  be  better  to  put 
up  a  hospital  costing  over  a  million  dollars,  or  to  count  the 


THe  JoHns  HopKins  Hospital  185 

cost  and  by  curtailing  various  expenses  reduce  the  amount 
so  that  the  balance  could  be  applied  to  educational  and 
scientific  purposes.  After  giving  the  necessary  calcu- 
lations, he  proceeds  to  develop  his  own  views,  in  a 
remarkably  direct  and  convincing  manner  as  follows: 

The  Hospital  should  contribute  to  Charity,  Education  and 
Science.  First  to  Charity.  It  is  to  furnish  the  best  possible 
care  and  treatment  to  the  sick.  Its  patients  are  to  have  the 
benefit  of  the  best  medical  and  surgical  skill  which  can  be 
procured,  of  properly  trained  nurses,  of  pure  air  and  proper 
food,  and  they  are  not  to  be  subjected  to  any  annoyances 
or  depressing  influences  by  being  made  a  show  of  in  any  way. 

Their  treatment  by  the  Hospital  authorities  is  to  be  in  the 
same  spirit  in  which  they  would  be  treated  in  their  own  homes. 

I  wish  to  make  my  views  on  this  point  distinctly  and  clearly 
understood,  even  at  the  risk  of  being  tedious.  A  sick  man 
enters  the  Hospital  to  have  his  pain  relieved — his  disease 
cured.  To  this  end  the  mental  influences  brought  to  bear 
upon  him  are  always  important,  sometimes  more  so  than 
the  physical.  He  needs  sympathy  and  encouragement  as 
much  as  medicine.  He  is  not  to  have  his  feelings  hurt 
by  being,  against  his  will,  brought  before  a  large  class  of 
unsympathetic,  noisy  students,  to  be  lectured  over  as  if  he 
were  a  curious  sort  of  beetle.  Some  men,  and  even  women, 
are  perfectly  indifferent  to  being  thus  displayed,  in  fact  rather 
like  it,  but  there  are  many  who  regard  it  with  aversion  and 
fear,  and  will  undergo  much  privation  and  suffering  in 
their  miserable  homes  rather  than  subject  themselves  to  the 
exposure  above  referred  to. 

In  this  Hospital  I  propose  that  he  shall  have  nothing  of  the 
sort  to  fear. 

In  these  blunt  terms,  Billings  makes  a  clean  sweep  of 
the  old-fashioned  tedious  didactic  clinical  lecture,  with 
a  patient  on  exhibition  in  the  amphitheatre  as  a  sort 
of  freak,  and,  at  the  same  time,  shows  how  to  do  away 


1 86  JoKn  SHaw  Billings 

with  the  ancient  and  well-founded  horror  of  hospitals 
which  had  existed  in  the  minds  of  the  ignorant  as  well  as 
the  intelligent  laity  up  to  the  end  of  the  nineteenth  cen- 
tury. But,  he  goes  on  to  say,  the  functions  of  such  a 
charity  as  Johns  Hopkins  proposed  is  not  to  be  limited 
to  the  care  and  treatment  of  the  sick: 

This  Hospital  should  advance  our  knowledge  of  the  causes, 
symptoms  and  pathology  of  disease,  and  methods  of  treatment, 
so  that  its  good  work  shall  not  be  confined  to  the  city  of 
Baltimore  or  the  State  of  Maryland,  but  shall  in  part  consist 
in  furnishing  more  knowledge  of  disease  and  more  power 
to  control  it,  for  the  benefit  of  the  sick  and  afflicted  of  all 
countries  and  of  all  future  time. 

It  should  be  remembered  that  our  buildings  and  machinery 
are  simply  tools  and  instruments,  that  the  real  Hospital,  the 
moving  and  animating  soul  of  the  institution,  which  is  to  do 
its  work  and  determine  its  character,  consists  of  the  brains  to 
be  put  in  it.  Whether  it  shall  be  a  truly  great  Hospital  and  a 
charity  such  as  was  intended  by  its  founder,  is  not  a  matter 
solely  of  arrangement  and  plan  of  buildings,  it  depends  upon 
not  more  than  half-a-dozen  men  and  one  or  two  women. 

If  cheap  buildings  were  therefore  to  be  run  up,  the 
effect  would  be  not  to  save  money  to  be  applied  to  other 
purposes,  but  merely  to  open  the  hospital  about  two  and 
a  half  years  earlier  than  by  the  other  arrangement : 

If  we  had  as  our  sole  object  the  care  of  the  sick  poor  of  the 
city  of  Baltimore,  dealing  with  it  as  a  contractor  would  do,  we 
might  perhaps  accept  this  view. 

But  this  Hospital  is  also  to  assist  in  educating  physicians,  in 
training  nurses,  in  promoting  discoveries  in  medicine,  and 
the  buildings  required  for  these  purposes  cannot  be  made  fit 
for  their  purpose  with  the  smaller  sum,  neither  can  the  saving 
proposed  be  by  any  means  a  clear  gain,  because  of  the  increased 
amount  of  annual  repairs  which  the  cheaper  buildings  must 
entail. 


XKe  JoHns  HopKins  Hospital  187 

I  have  intimated  that  the  most  difficult  thing  in  forming 
this  Hospital  is  not  to  plan  the  buildings,  to  decide  how  they 
shall  be  heated,  or  whether  the  ventilation  shall  be  by  a  cen- 
tral aspirating  shaft  or  otherwise ;  it  is  to  find  the  proper  and 
suitable  persons  to  be  the  soul  and  motive  power  of  the  institu- 
tion, but  it  is  also  true  that  the  plan  and  arrangement  of  the 
buildings  will  have  a  powerful  influence  upon  those  who  are 
to  manage  the  Hospital,  stimulating  them  to  exertion  in  cer- 
tain directions,  checking  them  in  others,  for  carrying  the 
analogy  of  the  Hospital  to  a  living  organism  a  little  farther — 
the  body  influences  the  soul  as  well  as  the  soul  the  body. 

The  next  question  considered  by  Billings  is  how  to 
obtain  the  best  men  for  the  hospital  and  this,  he  holds, 
will  be  accomplished,  not  so  much  by  holding  out  attrac- 
tive salaries,  as  by  offering  every  facility  for  the  furtherance 
of  scientific  observation  and  experiment: 

We  can  much  more  certainly  secure  men  who  will  minutely  and 
patiently  investigate  individual  cases,  noting  every  abnormal 
appearance  or  sound,  testing  every  excretion,  recording  the 
precise  effects  of  each  plan  of  medication,  in  short  doing  every- 
thing that  science  can  suggest  to  understand  the  condition 
of  the  patient  and  the  best  method  of  relieving  him ;  by  show- 
ing them  that  they  shall  have  space  and  apparatus  to  work 
with,  that  the  resources  of  modern  science  and  mechanical 
skill  shall  be  at  their  command,  and  that  any  discoveries  which 
they  may  make  shall  be  properly  published,  than  by  simply 
offering  double  pay. 

But  each  man,  however  good  and  capable  and  admir- 
able, is  a  problem  in  himself,  and  must  be  tried  out  to 
ascertain  his  true  worth: 

Again,  to  secure  these  skilled  physicians;  original  investiga- 
tors imbued  with  the  true  scientific  spirit;  gentlemen;  a  cer- 
tain amount  of  experiment  and  probation  will  be  necessary. 
In  very  few  cases  indeed  is  it  possible  to  say  at  first,  "This  is 


188  John  Shaw  Billings 

precisely  the  man  we  want  for  the  place."  They  must  be 
taken  on  trial.  This  trial  cannot  be  satisfactory  if  we  do  not 
furnish  the  means.  Such  men  as  are  wanted  will  at  once 
request  the  means  if  they  do  not  find  them  provided.  Those 
who  will  not  trouble  the  Trustees  for  more  than  they  provide — 
and  who  will  be  the  better  pleased  the  less  that  they  provide, 
are  not  the  kind  of  men  to  be  sought  for. 

But  the  mere  acquisition  of  capable  men  as  members 
of  a  medical  faculty  is  only  the  beginning  of  a  difficult 
problem,  and  herein  lies  the  conclusion  of  the  whole 
matter: 

After  we  have  got  our  good  men  we  want  to  keep  them  good. 
For  our  purposes  there  is  no  such  thing  as  a  man  who  "knows 
enough."  They  are  to  improve  steadily,  to  grow  mentally, 
and  for  this  growth  we  must  provide  nutriment  and  space  just 
as  certainly  as  we  must  provide  them  for  the  trees  which  we 
propose  to  plant,  or  else  expect  stunting,  impaired  vitality, 
and  absence  of  fruit.  The  buildings  are  to  be  arranged  with 
reference  to  these  considerations,  and  it  will  be  found  that  in 
the  plans  proposed  no  more  space  has  been  allowed  for  this 
purpose  than  is  really  advantageous.  I  not  only  cannot 
recommend  any  reduction  in  the  general  administration 
buildings  or  service  buildings  of  the  wards,  but  I  think  it 
would  be  judicious  to  increase  a  little  the  space  allowed  in 
some  of  these  structures. 

The  same  reasoning  is  extended  to  the  proposition  of  a 
training  school  for  nurses  and  to  the  education  of  medical 
students  proper.  In  nearly  all  American  medical  schools 
of  the  day,  Billings  points  out,  even  the  primary  object 
of  turning  out  good  average  practitioners  is  imperfectly 
attained : 

But  there  are  other  objects  for  a  Medical  School  which  do  not 
at  all  enter  into  the  plan  of  existing  institutions.  One  of 
these  is  to  train  men  to  be  original  investigators,  to  bring  them 


TKe  JoHxis  HopKins  Hospital  189 

face  to  face  with  the  innumerable  problems  relating  to  life, 
disease  and  death,  which  are  yet  to  be  solved ;  to  inspire  them 
with  the  desire  to  investigate  these  questions;  and  to  give 
them  the  training  of  the  special  senses,  of  manual  dexterity, 
and,  above  all,  of  clearness  and  logical  scientific  precision 
of  thought,  which  are  required  to  fit  them  to  be  explorers  in 
this  field. 

To  do  this,  I  think,  should  be  one  of  the  objects  of  this 
Medical  School. 

Another  need,  "which  is  supplied  by  no  medical  school 
in  existence,"  was  for  the  proper  training  of  public  sani- 
tary officers,  and  two  branches  which  Billings  recommends 
for  special  attention  are  the  diagnosis,  treatment,  and  juris- 
prudence of  insanity  and  a  special  course  in  pediatrics. 
The  next  point  he  insists  upon  is  that  the  students'  know- 
ledge is  "not  to  be  mainly  acquired  from  text-books  or 
lectures,  but  from  observation,  experiment  and  personal 
investigation. " 

What  the  teacher  can  do  is  to  inspire  in  the  student  the 
desire  to  learn,  show  him  how  to  work,  give  him  facilities 
and  encourage  him,  and  smooth  over  difficulties. 

To  do  all  this  implies  every  facility  in  the  way  of  rooms, 
instruments,  and  apparatus,  teaching  in  laboratories, 
wards,  and  dead-house,  and  small  classes:  "Lecturing  will 
be  the  smallest  part  of  the  duty  of  these  professors." 
No  time  must  be  wasted  on  men  not  fitted  to  receive 
such  instruction  and  suitable  students  must  be  sifted  out 
at  the  start  by  rigorous  preliminary  examinations.  In 
the  earlier  part  of  their  studies  pupils  should  occupy 
themselves  with  "principles,  theories  and  general  formu- 
lae, and  this  belongs  exclusively  to  the  university. "  Out- 
side of  rare  surgical  operations,  the  first-year  student  will 
see  little  of  hospital  work.  But  after  this  time,  "the 


190  JoKn  SHaw   Billings 

student  is  to  apply  the  principles  to  practice,  is  to  receive 
clinical  instruction,  is  clinically  to  instruct  himself.  To 
this  end  he  must  see  and  examine  cases  of  disease,  he 
must  work  in  the  Hospital  and  Dispensary. "  And  in 
furthering  such  instructions,  it  is  perfectly  possible  that 
"the  comfort  and  welfare  of  the  patients  shall  not  only 
be  not  injured  but  be  promoted  by  the  presence  of  these 
students": 

Reflect  a  moment  as  to  what  sort  of  persons  these  students, 
selected  and  trained  as  I  have  indicated,  will  be,  and  do  not 
let  the  word  "student"  mislead  you  into  taking  for  granted 
that  they  will  correspond  in  tastes,  habits  or  manners  to  the 
ordinary  ideal  of  a  medical  student.  There  will  be  as  much 
difference  as  there  is  between  an  architect  and  a  bricklayer. 

To  this  end,  Billings  again  insists  that  classes  should  be 
small,  that  the  whole  of  the  graduating  class  should  be 
employed  in  the  hospital,  that  this  number  cannot 
exceed  twenty-five,  making  the  maximum  number  of 
students  about  120.  "I  think  there  will  not  be  more  than 
ten  students  ready  for  the  hospital  advantages  by  1880." 
After  reviewing  the  wishes  expressed  in  Johns  Hopkins's 
will,  Billings  finally  proposes  that  either  a  hospital  costing 
at  least  one  million  dollars  plus  four  years'  income  be 
erected,  or,  failing  this,  "that  all  the  buildings  be  built 
with  regard  to  cheapness  mainly,  at  a  total  cost  of  about 
$350,000,  abandoning  entirely  the  general  plan  of  which  I 
have  been  speaking. "  He  clenches  this  alternative  by  the 
following  bold  statement:  "I  advise  that  no  attempt  at  a 
compromise  between  these  two  courses  be  made,  for  if  it 
is,  the  result  will  be  satisfactory  to  nobody. " 

After  considering  the  probable  date  of  construction, 
organization,  and  inception  of  the  Hospital  and  Medical 
School,  he  concludes  by  recommending  that  these  questions 
be  deferred  until  after  his  prospective  visit  to  Europe  to 


THe  JoHns  HopKins  Hospital  191 

obtain  necessary  data,  and  that  the  work  of  grading  and 
excavation  be  postponed  until  the  following  spring. 

The  substance  of  this  classical  report  has  been  given  in 
detail  on  account  of  its  historic  interest  and  because  it 
shows  Billings  at  his  best  in  his  straightforward  energetic 
way  of  grappling  with  a  difficult  problem  and  forcing  its 
issues  upon  his  readers  or  auditors. 

On  October  7,  1876,  Dr.  Billings,  in  company  with 
Dr.  Ezra  M.  Hunt,  a  well-known  sanitarian,  sailed  from 
Boston  on  the  S.  S.  Batavia  arriving  at  Queenstown  on 
October  i6th.  The  progress  of  his  trip  abroad  is  outlined 
in  his  letters  to  his  wife. 

Boston,  October  3,  1876.  Arrived  at  New  Haven  at  n  A.M. 
Spent  the  day  with  Dr.  and  Mrs.  Bacon  looking  at  Yale 
College.  I  was  much  interested  in  the  picture  gallery,  which 
contains  the  best  of  the  Trumbull  pictures,  and  especially 
about  a  dozen  miniatures.  .  .  .  To-morrow  I  read  my  paper 
and  after  that  will  have  time  to  go  round.  Met  Dr.  Holmes, 
who  remembered  me  at  once  and  was  very  cordial. 

October  4.  To-night  have  got  to  alter  my  paper  into  an 
address  to  be  given  to-morrow  night  to  take  the  place  of  one 
of  the  great  guns  who  has  failed  to  appear. 

October  5.  I  am  a  little  annoyed  that  my  paper,  which  was 
to  be  merely  a  brief  memorandum,  is  to  be  forced  into  the 
position  of  a  popular  address  to-night  but  I  must  do  as  well  as 
I  can.  ...  I  have  got  the  ugliest,  coarsest,  heaviest  ulster 
I  ever  saw  in  my  life,  have  got  some  "British  gold,"  and  am 
all  ready  to  go,  I  believe. 

October  8.  S.  S.  Batavia,  somewhere  near  Nova  Scotia. 
We  sailed  according  to  programme,  Dr.  Bowditch  going  to  the 
steamer  with  me  and  waving  good-bye  as  we  left  the  wharf. 

October  9.  Dr.  H.,  feeling  better,  came  on  deck  this  morn- 
ing with  his  stovepipe  hat  on  and  an  umbrella  spread.  The 


192  JoHn  SHaw  Billings 

Captain  immediately  stepped  up  to  him  and,  with  an  air  of 
great  interest,  inquired  if  he  were  going  ashore.  I  think  Dr. 
H.  will  not  appear  in  that  rig  again.  We  have  a  passenger 
on  board  who  has  crossed  six  times  and  is  always  sick  nearly 
the  whole  voyage.  He  made  his  preparations  with  a  sort  of 
cheerful  despair  which  was  very  comic,  and  he  is  now  on  deck 
with  lack-lustre  eyes,  pale  face  and  bedraggled  expression 
over  which,  when  anyone  speaks  to  him,  he  forces  a  smile,  and 
such  a  smile. 

October  12.  It  has  been  raining  and  storming  in  a  mild  way 
for  two  days.  Can't  go  on  deck,  so  drift  around  in  the  saloon 
and  the  smoking  room,  doing  nothing  in  particular.  It  is 
curious  that  I  do  not  even  care  to  read  but  simply  lounge 
around  and  look  vacuous.  The  ship  is  rolling  and  pitching 
in  such  a  way  that  writing  is  by  no  means  easy ;  one  moment 
you  are  leaning  away  from  the  table  in  a  very  erect  and  digni- 
fied manner,  and  the  next  moment  you  are  leaning  over  it 
with  your  nose  within  six  inches  of  the  cloth.  My  spine  is 
getting  very  flexible  by  exercise. 

October  22.  Morley's  Hotel,  London.  I  am  seated  in 
front  of  Trafalgar  Square,  with  Nelson's  monument  opposite, 
around  the  base  of  which  are  four  most  magnificent  lions. 
Have  not  seen  much  of  London  yet.  Dine  to-night  with 
Erichsen,  to-morrow  with  Brunton,  the  next  day  with  Ernest 
Hart,  editor,  British  Medical  Journal.  Find  that  I  have  little 
use  for  letters  of  introduction,  my  name  seems  well  known 
and  my  card  is  enough.  Am  engaged  for  dinner  every  day 
this  week.  Shall  probably  meet  Jean  Ingelow.  This  place 
is  too  big;  it  is  about  three  miles  to  anywhere,  and  if  it  were 
not  for  hansom  cabs,  I  could  not  get  on  at  all.  .  .  .  Every- 
thing is  new  and  odd,  not  altogether  pleasant,  but  invaluable 
as  an  experience.  .  .  .  Have  only  seen  the  sun  once  for  a 
few  minutes  since  I  landed.  Fog  or  rain  all  the  time.  I  have 
been  to  two  hospitals,  St.  Paul's  Cathedral,  London  Bridge, 
the  Monument  and  Hyde  Park,  and  have  ridden  on  the  top 
of  an  omnibus  along  the  Strand,  Cheapside,  Piccadilly,  etc., 


THe  JoKns  HopKins  Hospital  193 

from  Trafalgar  Square  to  the  Bank,  seeing  things  at  every 
step,  of  which  I  have  heard  since  I  was  a  boy.  The  hotel  is 
comfortable,  good  food  but  little  variety  in  it,  feather  bed 
which  worries  me,  no  gas  in  bed-rooms,  nothing  but  one  dim 
candle.  If  you  want  breakfast  before  9:30,  it  must  be  speci- 
ally ordered,  which  I  do  with  great  regularity,  to  the  disgust 
of  the  waiters.  Had  to  get  a  stiff  hat,  which  makes  my  head 
ache.  Dr.  H.  sees  more  sights  than  I,  but  I  see  more  men  than 
he.  .  .  .  Went  out  for  a  walk,  although  it  was  raining  a  little, 
so  did  not  go  very  far  before  we  came  to  Westminster  Abbey, 
a  grand  old  building,  which  however  does  not  impress  one  so 
much  from  the  outside,  as  it  is  dwarfed  in  appearance  by  the 
houses  of  Parliament,  just  across  the  street.  We  went  in  and 
found  service  going  on,  and  a  crowd  of  people  occupying  the 
floor.  The  music  was  grand  and  the  whole  effect  was  more 
impressive  than  anything  I  ever  dreamed  of.  The  tops  of  the 
enormously  high  Gothic  arches  were  lost  in  space  except 
where  some  stained  glass  windows  glowed  like  gems,  the  blue 
dome,  lighted  by  candelabrae  giving  a  very  sublime  radiance, 
and  everything  was  a  thousand  years  old  or  looked  as  if  it 
might  be.  The  door  we  had  gone  in  opened  into  "Poet's 
Corner"  and  there  were  statues  and  memorials  of  the  great 
men  we  have  heard  of  and  whose  dust  rests  below.  As  we  went 
out,  right  over  the  corner  was  one  monument  with  the  short- 
est inscription  of  all:  "O  rare  Ben  Jonson. "  I  went  to  St. 
Paul's  Cathedral  yesterday  but  it  was  simply  big  and  I  cannot 
say  that  I  was  moved  or  impressed.  ...  I  can  understand 
now  a  little  of  the  "certain  condescension  in  foreigners"  of 
which  Lowell  spoke.  What  extremely  poor  affairs  almost  all 
our  buildings  and  statues  are,  although  I  never  knew  it  before 
with  any  realizing  sense  of  the  thing. 

October  23.     Dined  with  Mr.  Erichsen  last  night. 

October  24.  Yesterday  I  explored  St.  Thomas's  Hospital, 
the  Houses  of  Parliament,  and  the  British  Museum.  Dined 
last  night  with  Lauder  Brunton  and  saw  Norman  Lockyer, 
the  editor  of  Nature,  and  the  finest  fellow  I  have  met  yet, 

13 


194  JoKn  SHa-w  Billings 

Dr.  Burden   Sanderson,  a  very  great  man  indeed,  and  Dr. 
Fothergill. 

October  27.  I  dined  last  night  at  the  Saville  Club  with 
Huxley,  Lockyer,  Sir  Joseph  Fayrer,  Ferrier  and  three  or  four 
more.  Sunday  evening  I  am  to  spend  with  Huxley  at  his 
house.  Spent  Wednesday  at  Oxford  and  had  a  gorgeous 
time.  .  .  .  To-morrow  I  go  to  Cambridge,  and,  returning,  go 
down  the  river  with  Beck.  Sunday  morning  I  breakfast  with 
Corfield,  lunch  with  MacCormac,  sup  with  Huxley;  Monday 
morning  to  South  Kensington,  lunch  with  Lockyer  and  start 
for  Amsterdam  in  the  afternoon. 

November  3.  Hotel  Hauffe,  Leipzig.  I  have  visited  the 
collection  of  pictures  here  and  have  seen  most  of  the  sights, 
which  indeed  are  not  very  remarkable.  It  does  not  at  all 
equal  Cologne  in  quaintness  and  strangeness. 

November  6.  Hotel  de  Rome,  Berlin.  Berlin  is  a  great 
city,  as  large  as  New  York,  and  with  the  finest  architecture  I 
have  yet  seen.  ...  I  took  tea  with  Professor  Thiersch,  the 
Dean  of  the  Medical  Department  of  the  University.  His  wife 
is  the  daughter  of  the  great  chemist  Liebig.  He  had  three 
distinguished  pundits  to  meet  me,  and  the  tea  lasted  until  one 
A.M.,  when  we  rose  from  the  table.  It  was  the  jolliest  tea 
party  I  ever  saw  or  ever  expect  to  see.  I  find  that  what 
little  German  I  know  helps  me  a  great  deal.  I  can  get  about 
without  trouble  and  ask  for  everything  I  want. 

November  10.  Hotel  Kron  Prinz,  Dresden.  On  my  arrival 
in  Dresden,  I  found  Dr.  Roth,  Surgeon-General  of  the  Saxon 
Army,  with  two  of  his  staff  awaiting  me  at  the  depot,  and  all 
arrangements  have  been  made  that  I  shall  see  everything 
that  is  worth  seeing,  and  there  is  very  much  here  that  interests 
me,  both  in  a  scientific  and  an  aesthetic  point  of  view.  .  .  . 
What  I  have  seen  of  the  architecture  does  not  equal  Berlin, 
and  the  monuments  and  sculpture  are  much  more  defaced 
by  smoke,  being  more  like  London  in  that  respect. 


THe  JoKns  HopKins  Hospital  195 

November  13.  Hotel  Metropole,  Vienna.  It  is  still  cold 
and  damp  and  raw,  very  depressing  weather  for  sight-seers, 
the  picture  galleries  are  mostly  not  heated  and  the  few  people 
who  visit  them  go  shivering  around  over  the  stone  floors 
with  cold  feet  and  red  noses,  and  hurry  through  with  the  show 
as  fast  as  possible.  There  are  many  statues  in  the  open  places 
through  the  city,  but  they  have  all  got  snow  wigs  on  and  look 
as  if  a  good  fire  under  them  would  help  things  a  good  deal. 
The  hotel  I  am  in  is  inside  the  old  part  of  the  city,  on  the  Franz 
Josef's  Quay,  and  about  it  are  the  queerest,  narrowest,  crooked- 
est  streets  you  can  imagine,  wide  enough  for  one  cart  and  no 
more.  I  was  in  St.  Stephan's  Cathedral  to-day;  it  is  large, 
gloomy  and  grand,  but  by  no  means  equal  to  the  cathedral  at 
Cologne.  The  picture  gallery  in  the  Belvedere  here  is  very 
fine,  not  quite  so  good  as  the  one  in  Dresden,  but  containing 
many  famous  pictures  by  Rubens,  Van  Dyke,  Rembrandt, 
Paul  Veronese  and  others.  I  have  been  in  the  great  Hospital 
here  to-day ;  it  has  nearly  three  thousand  sick  people  in  it,  and 
it  was  very  melancholy  to  walk  through  one  room  after 
another,  all  filled  with  men  or  women  or  children,  each  suffer- 
ing in  some  way.  Many  of  the  people  here  are  very,  very 
poor.  I  see  them  in  the  streets  very  thinly  dressed  and  blue 
with  cold.  They  use  small  carts  here  pulled  by  dogs,  and 
sometimes  I  see  a  dog  and  a  boy,  or  a  dog  and  a  woman, 
pulling  side  by  side.  In  the  middle  of  this  hotel  is  an 
open  court  with  a  glass  roof  and  the  breakfast  and  dining 
rooms  open  on  this  court  with  wide  piazzas.  The  court  is 
heated,  so  I  took  breakfast  and  dinner  at  a  little  table  out 
on  the  piazza,  where  it  was  very  light  and  pleasant.  In 
the  centre  of  the  court  is  a  great  table  covered  with  news- 
papers, and  among  these  I  was  glad  to  see  the  New  York 
Herald  of  October  24.  To-morrow  morning  I  am  going  to 
take  breakfast  with  the  American  minister,  Mr.  Edward 
F.  Beale.  Breakfast  at  half  past  eleven  o'clock,  rather  late 
forme,  don't  you  think?  ...  I  am  upon  the  whole  getting 
very  tired,  and  wish  I  were  at  home  with  you  all  once  more. 
There  is  no  place  that  is  so  comfortable  as  84  Gay  Street 
after  all. 


196  JoHn  SHaw  Billing's 

November  18.  Grand  Hotel,  de  la  Tour  des  Londres! 
Verona.  This  is  far  the  quaintest  and  most  interesting  city  I 
have  yet  been  in.  Yesterday  I  was  in  the  cathedral  and  saw 
Titian's  picture  of  the  Assumption;  in  half  a  dozen  churches, 
each  more  interesting  than  the  other;  in  Dante's  house, 
and  in  the  palace  of  the  Capulets — looking  at  the  balcony 
where  Juliet  saw  Romeo,  or  perhaps  it  was  Romeo  who  saw 
Juliet.  Venice  and  Verona  made  me  feel  very  melancholy; 
they  are  crumbling  away  and  only  here  and  there  are  feeble 
efforts  made  to  repair  and  preserve.  Beggars  and  priests 
are  everywhere,  and,  in  the  cities,  everything  looks  poor  and 
more  or  less  in  want. 

November  18.  9:00  P.M.  Grand  Hotel  Royal,  Milan.  I 
have  just  come  in  from  an  hour's  stroll  through  this  very 
curious  city.  The  cathedral  surpasses  my  expectations  and 
though  not  so  imposing  in  height  as  that  at  Cologne,  is  far 
more  elaborate  and  beautiful.  It  seems  almost  impossible  that 
such  lace  work  could  be  done  in  stone.  I  have  been  through 
the  grand  arcade  of  shops,  all  of  which  were  brilliantly  lighted 
and  made  a  most  imposing  display.  Don't  imagine  that  things 
are  cheap  here,  for  really  good  and  beautiful  articles  one  must 
pay  as  in  New  York.  The  ride  over  from  Verona  to-day  was 
through  one  of  the  most  beautiful  valleys  in  Italy,  along  the  foot 
of  the  Apennines.  The  country  is  cultivated  like  a  garden. 

November  19.  Grand  Hotel  Royal,  Milan.  To-day, 
though  Sunday,  has  been  a  very  busy  one  with  me.  I  have 
examined  two  hospitals,  been  all  over  the  Cathedral — on  top 
and  down  in  the  crypt,  where  I  saw  the  tomb  of  St.  somebody, 
all  in  silver  repousse  work,  which  cost  over  a  million  of  dollars ; 
have  been  through  the  picture  gallery,  the  Arena,  seen  Da 
Vinci's  picture  of  the  Last  Supper,  etc.,  and  am  pretty  nearly 
ready  to  go  to  bed  and  get  some  rest. 

November  28.  Hotel  de  la  Couronne,  Paris.  6  P.M.  Paris 
is  a  superb  place  to  be  in ;  no  other  city  that  I  have  seen  presents 
so  many  ways  of  amusing  one's  self  and  so  much  to  see. 


THe  JoHns  HopKins  Hospital  197 

On  December  i6th,  Dr.  Billings  embarked  from  Liver- 
pool on  the  Cunard  steamer  Russia,  having  visited  all  the 
hospitals  and  medical  schools  in  the  cities  mentioned  in 
his  itinerary.  While  in  England,  he  made  many  valuable 
acquaintances  destined  to  become  fast  friends  in  after- 
life. Among  these  were  Dr.  Henry  W.  Acland  of  Oxford, 
Professor  Huxley,  Professor  Michael  Foster,  Dr.  William 
M.  Ord,  and  Lister,  from  whom  he  received  the  following 
letter: 

9  CHARLOTTE  SQUARE,  EDINBURGH, 

5th  Dec.,  1876. 
DEAR  DR.  BILLINGS: 

We  have  been  talking  of  you  lately  and  wondering  whether 
you  had  abandoned  your  idea  of  visiting  Europe  this  year; 
and  now  we  are  pleased  to  learn  that  such  is  not  the  case.  If 
it  suited  you  to  call  at  my  house  about  10  o'clock  on  Saturday 
morning,  we  could  arrange  about  meeting  at  the  Infirmary  on 
that  day.  We  should  be  very  glad  that  Dr.  Hunt  and  you 
should  make  our  house  your  home  during  your  stay  in  Edin- 
burgh if  it  would  suit  your  convenience  to  do  so.  In  any  case 
we  hope  you  will  both  dine  with  us  quietly  on  Saturday  and 
talk  over  subjects  of  mutual  interest ;  and  on  Monday  evening 
we  shall  hope  to  have  some  professional  friends  to  meet  you. 
Mrs.  Lister  joins  in  kind  remembrances  to  you,  with 

Yours  very  sincerely, 

JOSEPH    LISTER. 

Prior  to  Dr.  Billings's  visit  to  Europe,  the  five  plans  of 
the  several  competitors  had  been  subjected  to  a  close  and 
careful  criticism  by  the  architect  of  the  Hospital,  Mr. 
John  R.  Niernsee,  who  also  made  a  revision  of  Dr.  Bil- 
lings's estimates  of  the  probable  cost;  and  the  plans 
drawn  up  by  Mr.  Niernsee  himself,  based  upon  the  sketch 
plans  of  Billings,  were  in  turn  reviewed  by  the  latter  (July 
15,  1876),  in  the  report  already  mentioned.  Upon  his 
return  from  Europe,  Billings  presented  a  third  report 


198  John  SKaw  Billings 

giving  a.  summary  of  his  investigations  abroad  on  Janu- 
ary n,  1877,  including  some  racy  paragraphs  on  the  then 
European  conditions.  He  regards  the  English  schools  as, 
on  the  whole,  the  best  for  beginners  in  medicine,  those  of 
France  and  Germany  requiring  a  "very  considerable  stock 
of  preliminary  knowledge,"  if  good  results  are  to  be 
obtained. 

In  the  German  schools  there  seems  to  me  to  be  a  little  too 
much  of  the  forcing  process  in  the  stimulating  to  and  requiring 
of  original  work,  instead  of  trying  to  fit  a  man  to  do  original 
work. 

The  student  is  led  to  think  that  his  highest  aim  should  be  to 
do  some  experiment  which  no  one  has  done  before,  and  for 
this  purpose  he  may  work  for  a  year  in  the  laboratory,  and 
yet  acquire  but  a  tithe  of  the  knowledge  which  he  goes  there  to 
obtain.  As  a  rule  it  seems  better  that  specialism  should  follow 
and  not  precede  general  culture;  if  the  foundation  is  narrow 
the  superstructure  cannot  be  wide  or  firm. 

The  plans  submitted  to  the  various  authorities  met  with 
general  approval  everywhere,  but  beyond  the  general 
trend  of  preference  towards  one-story  wards,  opinion  as  to 
construction  and  management,  heating  and  ventilation, 
was  chaotic.  Billings  found  that  his  reputation  as  a 
constructor  of  barrack  hospitals  in  war-time  had  preceded 
him: 

I  do  not  think  we  have  much  to  learn  from  Europe  as  re- 
gards the  general  principles  of  hospital  construction.  .  .  . 
Surprise  was  freely  expressed  at  my  coming  from  America 
to  Europe  to  learn  about  hospitals. 

As  regards  ventilation,  each  person  consulted  thought 
his  own  system  the  best,  although  he  could  give  no  reasons 
for  the  assertion  in  most  cases.  Billings  notes  the  marked 
improvements  brought  about  in  hospital  statistics  by  the 


THe  JoHns  HopKins  Hospital  199 

antiseptic  or  Listerian  method  and  how,  in  many  of  the 
older  hospitals,  defects  of  plan  and  construction  were 
compensated  for  by  good  administration,  while  in  better 
hospitals  of  more  recent  type  which  were  supposed  to  run 
of  themselves,  evil  results  were  sometimes  manifest.  As 
to  the  question  of  female  nurses,  Billings  gives  a  drastic 
critique  of  the  Nightingale  system,  in  particular  of  the  idea 
that  the  lady  superintendent  of  nurses  should  be  indepen- 
dent of  the  superintendent  of  the  hospital  and  responsible 
only  to  the  trustees,  the  ideal  of  "an  independent  female 
hierarchy,  which  will  consider  from  the  very  commence- 
ment, that  one  of  its  main  objects  is  to  be  independent  of 
all  males,  who  are  to  be  considered  as  the  natural  enemies 
of  the  organization. "  At  this  time,  most  of  the  nurses  at 
St.  Thomas's  Hospital,  he  claims,  fell  short  of  the  Nightin- 
gale ideal  of  "refined  educated  women,  fitted  to  move  in 
good  society,"  being  rather  "of  the  class  from  which  the 
better  kind  of  English  domestic  servants  are  obtained." 
He  adds  that  "the  denunciations  of  attempts  to  govern 
women  by  men  are  not  worth  considering,  except  as 
indicating  that  those  who  utter  them  are  not  desirable 
persons  to  be  associated  with  in  an  institution  of  this  kind." 
He  recommends  the  New  Haven  system  of  a  superinten- 
dent of  nurses  and  a  matron,  who  shall  be  subordinated  to 
the  authorities  of  the  hospital,  and  also  the  experiment  of 
trying  a  few  male  nurses.  In  regard  to  another  matter, 
Billings  is  equally  breezy  and  positive : 

If  a  female  nurse  is  a  properly  organized  and  healthy  woman, 
she  will  certainly  at  times  be  subject  to  strong  temptation 
under  which  occasionally  one  will  fall,  and  this  occurs  in  all 
hospitals  where  women  are  employed,  without  any  exception 
whatever.  Something  may  be  done,  however,  to  remove  op- 
portunities— and  I  believe  the  construction  proposed  effects 
this  as  far  as  it  is  worth  while  to  attempt  it. 


2oo  JoHn  SHaw  Billings 

After  some  consideration  of  ventilation  and  heating, 
which  Billings  deals  with  in  a  very  general  way,  preferring 
to  develop  the  details  in  connection  with  the  actual  process 
of  construction,  he  concludes  his  report  with  a  recommen- 
dation that  the  revised  plan  be  adopted. 

The  fresh  plans  having  been  approved  by  the  Board  of 
Trustees  on  April  17,  1877,  the  Building  Committee  was 
authorized  to  proceed  with  the  construction  of  buildings 
on  the  west  front,  and  the  superintendent  of  construction 
entered  on  his  duties  on  May  8,  1877.  The  hospital 
grounds  were  enclosed  by  a  fence,  and  at  the  end  of  the 
year,  excavations  for  the  cellars  of  the  main  building  and 
pay  wards  and  nurses'  home  had  been  made,  the  lot  was 
drained,  foundations  laid,  and  walls  of  the  principal  build- 
ings begun.  Sketches  for  the  elevation  of  the  main  build- 
ing and  pay  wards,  forming  the  west  or  principal  front  of 
the  hospital,  were  prepared  by  Messrs.  Cabot  and  Chand- 
ler of  Boston  and  approved  by  the  Trustees.  The  style  of 
architecture  adopted  was  Queen  Anne,  the  material  brick, 
with  trimmings  of  the  dark  blue  Cheat  River  stone.  On 
February  12,  1878,  Dr.  Billings  presented  his  full  report 
on  the  system  of  heating  and  ventilation  to  be  adopted, 
which,  as  he  remarked,  was  specially  devised  to  be  suitable 
to  the  climate  of  Baltimore  and  the  peculiar  location  and 
plan  of  the  hospital.  On  January  23,  1882,  he  reported  to 
the  Building  Committee  that  in  view  of  the  superior  style 
of  construction  employed  and  the  decided  increase  in  the 
price  of  labour  and  materials,  the  estimated  total  cost  of 
the  Hospital  had  advanced  from  $1,028,500  to  $1,610,- 
372.29  and  that,  in  consequence  of  this,  it  would  require 
about  six  and  one-half  years  more  to  complete  the  Hospital 
on  an  estimated  annual  income  of  $125,000.  The  question 
arose  whether  the  Dispensary  and  the  Octagon  Ward, 
then  in  process  of  completion,  should  be  thrown  open  to 
the  sick  poor  and  employed  for  clinical  instruction.  In  a 


THe  JoHns  HopKins  Hospital  201 

report  of  April  4,  1882,  Dr.  Alan  P.  Smith  and  Mr.  John 
W.  Garrett  found  that  this  could  be  done  without  trench- 
ing upon  the  principal  of  the  trust,  and  represented  that 
the  hospital  could  be  opened  on  September  I,  1883.  On 
account  of  the  necessity  of  slowly  paying  for  the  construc- 
tion of  the  hospital  out  of  its  annual  income,  this  was 
not  to  be  until  six  years  later. 

In  the  final  plans,  the  wards  were  in  single  story  pavil- 
ions, and  to  ward  off  the  miasms  and  malarial  emanations 
which,  under  Pettenkofer's  Boden  theory  were  then 
supposed  to  emanate  from  the  soil,  the  basement  was  left 
unoccupied  by  patients,  and 

wherever  there  was  any  communication  between  the  base- 
ment and  the  first  story,  such  as  by  flues  communicating  with 
radiators  in  the  basement,  even  when  they  conveyed  hot  air, 
a  thick  coat  of  asphalt  should  be  spread  beneath  them  so 
that  the  floor  might  be  wholly  impervious  to  any  exhalations 
from  the  soil.  .  .  .  No  elevators  were  permitted  in  the  build- 
ings because  of  the  danger  of  communicating  infection  from 
one  story  to  the  other.1 

The  ventilation  was  secured  "not  only  by  natural  currents 
of  air  introduced  from  without,"  but  also  by  "the  removal 
of  impure  air  from  apartments  by  means  of  exhaust  fans, 
and  high  shaft  with  accelerating  coils. "  "  No  building  up 
to  that  time,  or  since,"  says  Hurd,  "had  more  enlightened 
arrangements  for  fresh  and  pure  air,  or  more  perfect  con- 
struction of  apparatus  for  heating  and  ventilation. " 2 

In  reviewing  the  plans  at  the  Billings  Memorial  Meet- 
ing at  the  Hospital  in  May  26,  I9I3,3  Hurd  points  out  that 

the  whole  structure  was  too  much  upon  the  line  of  the  army 
hospital.  It  was  deficient  in  modern  facilities  for  nursing  and 

1  H.  M.  Hurd,  Johns  Hopkins  Hasp.  Bull.,  Baltimore,  1914,  xrv.,  245. 
*  Loc.  cit.  3  Loc.  cit. 


2O2  JoKn  SHaw  Billings 

in  the  modern  laboratories  for  studying  disease.  The  sink 
rooms,  ward  bathrooms,  linen  rooms,  etc.,  were  too  small,  and 
not  arranged  for  the  convenience  of  nurses.  They  seemed  to 
contemplate  the  presence  of  the  army  orderly  at  every  turn. 
There  was  also  imperfect  provision  for  housekeeping  and  store- 
rooms and  other  conveniences,  which  housekeepers  love  to 
plan  and  sometimes  to  use.  The  operating  rooms  were  also 
inadequate  and  not  sufficiently  studied  in  the  light  of  present 
demands  of  modern  surgery. 

But  he  admits  that  "these  were  minor  defects  and  were 
incident  to  the  times  and  not  to  any  oversight  on  his  part." 
"These  plans,"  he  says,  "influenced  hospitals  in  a  way 
unparalleled  in  the  history  of  hospital  construction, "  and 
gave  "a  tremendous  impetus  to  better  hospitals  by  direct- 
ing the  attention  of  medical  men,  sanitarians,  and  others 
to  the  absolute  necessity  of  certain  great  essentials,  viz., 
more  perfect  ventilation  and  heating  and  the  prevention 
of  contagion." 

In  1877-78  and  after,  Dr.  Billings  gave  a  course  of 
twenty  lectures  on  the  history  of  medicine,  medical  legisla- 
tion, and  medical  education,  in  relation  to  the  future  uni- 
versity teaching  in  the  Hospital.  In  this  course,  the  les- 
son of  medical  history,  the  strange  recurrence  of  certain 
medical  theories  in  different  periods,  was  deliberately 
applied  to  the  elucidation  of  the  status  of  medical  educa- 
tion in  such  periods.  These  lectures,  an  example  of  what 
the  modern  Germans  call  historische  Medizin,  or  applied 
historical  medicine  as  distinguished  from  medical  history 
proper,  exist  in  manuscript,  forming  a  carefully  prepared 
monograph  which  deserves  to  be  printed.  One  of  them, 
the  "  Suggestions  on  Medical  Education,"  printed  in  1878, 
was  followed,  in  1893,  by  a  "Condensed  Statement  of 
the  Requirements  of  the  Principal  University  Medical 
Schools  in  Europe  with  Regard  to  Candidates  for  the 
Degree  of  Doctor  of  Medicine,"  which  Dr.  Billings  pre- 


THe  JoKns  HopKins  Hospital  203 

pared  at  the  request  of  Mr.  Charles  J.  M.  Gwinn,  one  of 
the  Trustees.  It  is  an  interleaved  pamphlet  of  twenty- 
five  pages,  giving  the  requisite  data  for  the  leading  univer- 
sity schools  of  Great  Britain,  Germany,  France,  Sweden, 
and  Italy  in  concise  form.  It  is,  in  some  respects,  a  fore- 
runner of  the  famous  reports  made  by  Mr.  Abraham 
Flexner,  nearly  twenty  years  later,  but  the  treatment  is 
entirely  impersonal  and  no  criticisms  or  suggestions  are 
advanced.  It  proved  of  great  help  in  determining 
the  requirements  for  admission  and  graduation.  In  the 
"Suggestions"  of  1878,  he  goes  very  minutely  into  the 
possible  or  probable  lines  to  be  followed  in  medical 
teaching  in  the  Hospital,  and  even  urges  special 
courses  in  comparative  pathology,  medical  history  and 
bibliography,  state  medicine  and  public  hygiene,  sta- 
tistics, sanitary  engineering,  forensic  medicine,  and  ad- 
vanced courses  for  officers  of  the  Army  and  Navy.  He 
concludes  that 

if  this  plan  be  approved  and  followed,  it  is  probable  that  none 
of  us  will  live  long  enough  to  see  the  perfect  fruits  of  it.  Yet  it 
does  not  seem  to  me  to  be  a  mere  vague  dream  that  those  fruits, 
in  the  shape  of  additions  to  human  knowledge  and  human 
happiness,  in  the  shape  of  men  of  whom  this  country  may  well 
be  proud,  and  in  the  shape  of  honour  and  fame  for  the  institu- 
tion which  has  produced  such  results, — will  surely  come,  come 
for  our  children's  children,  though  not  for  us. 

On  May  7,  1889,  the  Johns  Hopkins  Hospital  was  for- 
mally opened  in  the  presence  of  a  distinguished  audience 
with  a  prayer  by  Rev.  Joseph  T.  Smith,  followed  by 
addresses  by  Mr.  Francis  T.  King,  Dr.  Billings,  and  Presi- 
dent Daniel  C.  Gilman.  Mr.  King,  in  his  address,  pointed 
out  that  seventeen  buildings  had  been  constructed  and 
furnished,  fourteen  and  a  half  acres  of  ground  enclosed  and 
beautified,  without  taking  a  dollar  from  the  principal  placed 


204  JoHn.  SHaw  Billing's 

in  the  hands  of  the  Trustees,  and  with  an  actual  increase 
of  the  endowment  by  $113,000  through  judicious  invest- 
ments. The  Trustees,  as  he  said,  had  not  failed  in  this 
part  of  their  duty.  Dr.  Billings,  after  specifying  the  condi- 
tions set  forth  in  Johns  Hopkins' s  original  letter  of  instruc- 
tions, preceded  to  show  how  far  they  had  been  complied 
with,  giving  incidentally  a  clear  description  of  the  Hospital 
as  it  stands.  "As  regards  construction,"  he  said,  "I  do 
not  hesitate  to  affirm  that  these  are  the  best  built  buildings 
of  their  kind  in  the  world."  He  points  out  how  the  ventila- 
tion and  heating  had  to  be  adapted  to  the  temperature  of 
Baltimore,  varying  from  103  degrees  in  the  shade  to  17 
degrees  below  zero  F.,  in  other  words,  one  which  would 
answer  for  the  tropics  or  northern  Russia ;  how  the  wards 
are  heated  from  central  boilers,  by  the  circulation  of 
eighty  thousand  gallons  of  water  through  the  complex 
system  of  hot- water  coils;  how  accumulation  of  dust  and 
dirt  is  avoided  in  the  wards  by  the  substitution  of  curves 
for  rectangular  corners  and  the  avoiding  of  mouldings 
about  panels;  how  all  the  patients  in  the  isolation  wards 
have  rooms  to  themselves  which  open  into  a  corridor 
through  which  wind  is  always  blowing;  and  how  all  pipes 
and  traps  are  either  exposed  to  view  or  can  be  seen  by 
merely  opening  a  door,  while,  under  ordinary  conditions, 
they  "remain  a  profound  mystery  to  everyone  except  the 
plumber,  and  often  puzzle  even  him."  After  describing 
the  facilities  for  medical  instruction,  the  pathological 
laboratory,  the  nurses'  home,  and  the  dispensary,  he  pays 
a  well-deserved  tribute  to  the  architects  and  supervisors 
of  construction,  to  the  designer  of  the  grounds,  Mr.  E.  W. 
Bowditch  of  Boston,  and  to  the  President  of  the  Board  and 
Chairman  of  the  Building  Committee  through  the  whole 
progress  of  the  work,  Mr.  Francis  T.  King.  One  feature 
of  his  address  is  a  neat  history  of  the  evolution  of  the 
hospital  idea : 


TKe  JoHns  HopKins  Hospital  205 

The  first  hospitals  were  established  to  give  shelter  and  food 
to  the  sick  poor,  especially  those  who  gathered  in  cities. 
Gradually  physicians  found  that  they  could  learn  much  in  these 
aggregations  of  suffering  and  that  they  afforded  the  means  of 
teaching  others;  but  this  last  use  of  them  is  only  about  two 
hundred  years  old.  Gradually,  also,  it  came  to  be  known  that 
the  knowledge  thus  obtained  in  the  care  of  the  sick  poor  was 
of  use  in  treating  the  diseases  of  the  well-to-do;  and  finally, 
within  the  last  twenty-five  years  or  so,  people  are  beginning  to 
find  out  that  when  they  are  afflicted  with  certain  forms  of 
disease  or  injury  they  can  be  better  treated  in  a  properly 
appointed  hospital  than  they  can  be  in  their  own  homes,  no 
matter  how  costly  or  luxurious  these  may  be.  In  the  hospital 
they  can  have  not  only  all  the  comforts  of  home,  but  more; 
not  only  skilled  medical  attendance  and  skilled  nursing,  but 
the  use  of  many  appliances  and  arrangements  specially  de- 
vised for  the  comfort  and  welfare  of  the  sick  which  can  hardly 
be  found  in  any  private  house,  and  also  freedom  from  noise 
and  many  petty  annoyances,  including  in  some  cases  too  much 
sympathy  and  in  others  too  little. 

Billings  concludes  with  a  luminous  presentation  of  the 
functions  of  a  modern  hospital: 

A  hospital  is  a  living  organism,  made  up  of  many  different 
parts,  having  different  functions,  but  all  these  must  be  in  due 
proportion  and  relation  to  each  other,  and  to  the  environment, 
to  produce  the  desired  general  results.  The  stream  of  life 
which  runs  through  it  is  incessantly  changing;  patients  and 
nurses  and  doctors  come  and  go;  to-day  it  has  to  deal  with 
the  results  of  an  epidemic,  to-morrow  with  those  of  an  ex- 
plosion or  a  fire;  the  reputation  of  its  physicians  or  surgeons 
attracts  those  suffering  from  a  particular  form  of  disease, 
and  as  the  one  changes  so  do  the  others.  Its  work  is 
never  done;  its  equipment  is  never  complete;  it  is  always 
in  need  of  new  means  of  diagnosis,  of  new  instruments  and 
medicines ;  it  is  to  try  all  things  and  hold  fast  to  that  which 
is  good. 


206  JoHn  SHa-w  Billings 

"Et  quoniam  variant  morbi,  variabimus  artes. " 

It  has  been  said  that  "hospitals  are  in  some  sort  the  measure 
of  the  civilization  of  a. people,"  but  a  hospital  of  this  kind 
should  be  more  than  an  index.  It  should  be  an  active  force 
in  the  community  in  which  it  is  placed.  When  the  mediaeval 
priest  established  in  each  great  city  in  France  a  Hotel  Dieu,  a 
place  for  God's  hospitality,  it  was  in  the  interests  of  charity  as 
he  understood  it,  including  both  the  helping  of  the  sick  poor 
and  the  affording  to  those  who  were  neither  sick  nor  poor  an 
opportunity  and  a  stimulus  to  help  their  fellow-men;  and 
doubtless  the  cause  of  humanity  and  religion  was  advanced 
more  by  the  effect  on  the  givers  than  on  the  receivers.  It  is 
the  old  lesson  so  often  expounded,  apparently  so  simple,  and 
yet  so  hard  to  learn,  that  true  happiness  lies  in  helping  others; 
that  it  is  more  blessed  to  give  than  to  receive. 

In  some  respects  we  to-day  have  a  much  wider  outlook  than 
the  men  of  a  thousand  years  ago.  This  hospital  is  designed,  as 
I  have  told  you,  to  advance  medical  science  as  well  as  to  give 
relief  to  the  sick  poor,  but  the  fundamental  motive  is  the  same 
— to  help  others. 

We  have  here  the  beginning  of  an  institution  which  shall 
endure  long  after  the  speakers  and  the  audience  of  to-day 
shall  have  finished  their  life-work  and  have  passed  away. 
Founded  in  the  interest  of  suffering  humanity,  intimately 
connected  with  a  great  university,  amply  provided  with  what 
is  at  present  known  to  be  essential  to  its  work,  we  have 
every  reason  to  predict  for  it  a  long  and  prosperous 
career,  with  steadily  progressing  improvement  in  its  or- 
ganization and  methods,  and  enlargement  of  its  activity  and 
influence. 

Let  us  hope  that  before  the  last  sands  have  run  out  from 
beneath  the  feet  of  the  years  of  the  nineteenth  century  it  will 
have  become  a  model  of  its  kind,  and  that  upon  the  centennial 
of  its  anniversary  it  will  be  a  hospital  which  shall  still  com- 
pare favourably,  not  only  in  structure  and  arrangement,  but 
also  in  results  achieved,  with  any  other  institution  of  like 
character  in  existence. 


THe  JoHns  HopKins  Hospital  207 

Dr.  Billings's  Description  of  the  Johns  Hopkins  Hospital, 
a  quarto  of  116  pages,  illustrated  with  56  plates,  was  pub- 
lished in  1890,  and  became  a  kind  of  text-book  on  the 
subject  of  hospital  construction  and  ventilation. 

On  January  22,  1889,  President  Daniel  C.  Oilman  had 
been  appointed  interim  Director  of  the  Hospital,  pending 
the  selection  of  a  permanent  Superintendent,  Dr.  Billings 
meanwhile  continuing  his  duties  as  Advisor.  On  June 
1 8, 1889,  Dr.  Henry  M.  Kurd,  of  Union  City,  Michigan,  was 
elected  Superintendent  of  the  Hospital,  assuming  his  office 
on  August  1st,  after  which  it  was  agreed  that  the  duties  of 
Dr.  Billings  and  President  Oilman  should  cease  and  deter- 
mine. In  the  meanwhile,  the  members  of  the  medical  and 
surgical  staff  had  been  selected.  The  earliest  of  these 
appointments  to  be  made  was  that  of  Professor  William  H. 
Welch,  of  Norfolk,  Connecticut,  to  the  chair  of  pathology 
in  1884.  This  important  selection  was  made  largely  at  the 
instance  of  Dr.  Billings  and  of  Professor  Julius  Cohnheim 
of  Breslau,  in  whose  laboratory  Professor  Welch  had  made 
a  distinguished  record.  In  connection  with  the  banquet 
given  in  honour  of  Professor  Welch  in  Baltimore  on  April 
2,  1910,  Dr.  Billings  referred  to  his  first  meeting  with  him 
as  follows: 

Probably  I  have  known  Doctor  Welch  longer  than  any  one 
who  will  be  present  at  the  dinner.  I  first  met  him  over  thirty 
years  ago  when  he  was  a  student  in  Ludwig's  laboratory  in 
Leipsic,  when  Kronecker  was  assistant  professor.  I  listened  to 
his  account  of  his  work,  went  with  him  to  Auerbach's  Keller 
where  we  discoursed  de  omnibus  rebus,  and  as  the  result  of 
these  two  talks,  I  said  to  Mr.  Francis  King,  the  President  of 
the  Johns  Hopkins  Hospital,  who  was  with  me  in  Leipsic, 
that  that  young  man  should  be,  in  my  opinion,  one  of  the  first 
men  to  be  secured  when  the  time  came  to  begin  the  medical 
school.  After  Dr.  Welch  returned  to  America,  the  reports  6f 
his  teaching  and  research  work  in  New  York,  which  came  to 


208  JoHn.  SHaw  Billing's 

me,  confirmed  this  opinion,  and  the  result  was  that  he  was  the 
first  man  appointed  as  Professor  in  the  Johns  Hopkins  Medical 
School.  Of  what  his  work  has  been  in  this  school,  I  need  say 
nothing,  the  best  part  of  it  is  the  men  whom  he  has  trained  and 
inspired. 

With  Billings,  Gilman,  and  Professor  Newell  Martin, 
Welch  played  an  important  part  in  the  organization  of 
the  Johns  Hopkins  Medical  School,  and  through  his  own 
scientific  work  and  that  of  his  pupils,  he  practically  in- 
troduced the  new  subjects  of  experimental  pathology  and 
bacteriology  in  American  medicine.  On  September  25, 
1888,  Dr.  William  Osier,  of  Bond  Head,  Canada,  who  had 
been  professor  of  medicine  at  the  University  of  Pennsyl- 
vania since  1884,  was  elected  Physician-in-Chief  to  the 
Hospital,  and  he  too  was  a  selection  of  Dr.  Billings.  As 
Osier  himself  relates: 

An  important  interview  I  had  with  him  illustrates  the  man 
and  his  methods.  Early  in  the  spring  of  1889  he  came  to  my 
rooms,  Walnut  Street,  Philadelphia.  We  had  heard  a  great 
deal  about  the  Johns  Hopkins  Hospital,  and  knowing  that  he 
was  virtually  in  charge,  it  at  once  flashed  across  my  mind  that 
he  had  come  in  connexion  with  it.  Without  sitting  down,  he 
asked  me  abruptly,  "Will  you  take  charge  of  the  Medical 
Department  of  the  Johns  Hopkins  Hospital?"  Without  a 
moment's  hesitation  I  answered,  "Yes."  "See  Welch  about 
the  details ;  we  are  to  open  very  soon.  I  am  very  busy  to-day, 
good-morning,"  and  he  was  off,  having  been  in  my  room  not 
more  than  a  couple  of  minutes.  "x 

Until  he  was  awarded  the  blue  ribbon  of  the  profession, 
the  Regius  Professorship  of  Medicine  at  Oxford  in  1904, 
Osier  laboured  continuously  at  the  chief  end  of  his  life- 
work,  the  teaching  of  clinical  medicine  in  the  wards,  in 
which  he  made  an  epoch  in  this  country.  He  made  many 

1  Sir  W.  Osier,  Brit.  Med.  Jour.,  London,  1913,  i.,  641. 


TKe  JoHns  Hop  Kins  Hospital  209 

important  contributions  to  his  subject,  wrote  the  best 
text-book  on  the  practice  of  medicine  in  English  (1892), 
and  turned  out  a  long  line  of  worthy  pupils. 

Other  appointments  followed  in  due  course,  in  particular 
those  of  Professor  William  S.  Halsted  of  New  York  to  the 
chair  of  surgery  on  March  II,  1889,  Professor  Howard  A. 
Kelly  of  Camden,  New  Jersey,  to  the  chair  of  gynecology, 
Professors  William  S.  Thayer  (internal  medicine),  J. 
Whitridge  Williams  (obstetrics),  Henry  M.  Thomas  (neu- 
rology), and  around  these  were  soon  grouped  a  brilliant 
cluster  of  younger  men,  L.  F.  Barker,  Simon  Flexner,  W. 
T.  Councilman,  H.  A.  Lafleur,  Charles  P.  Emerson,  A.  C. 
Abbott,  Thomas  S.  Cullen,  and  others. 

With  such  a  faculty  as  this,  great  advances  in  medical 
teaching  were  made  from  the  start.  In  accordance  with 
Billings's  suggestions,  the  original  work  done  at  the  Hospi- 
tal was  published  in  special  Reports  or  in  the  Hospital 
Bulletin,  the  first  number  of  which  (1890)  contains  a 
demonstration  of  rare  medical  books  by  Billings.  Billings 
himself  lectured  continuously  on  the  history  of  medicine 
for  a  number  of  years,  and,  after  his  time,  the  subject 
was  taught  in  the  wards  and  by  means  of  the  Hospital 
Historical  Club,  at  which  the  utterances  of  Welch  and 
Osier  were  inspiring  and  suggestive.  Osier  required  his 
pupils  to  read  and  report  upon  the  foreign  medical  jour- 
nals and,  in  ward  and  clinic,  or  in  his  evenings  with  his 
"boys"  at  home,  aimed  to  develop  the  delicate  art  of 
self -direction  in  young  men,  giving  them  by  suggestion, 
humorous  or  kindly,  the  proper  ideals  of  the  ethics  and 
etiquette  of  their  profession.  His  influence  upon  his 
Johns  Hopkins  pupils  was  not  unlike  that  of  General 
Robert  E.  Lee  upon  his  soldiers,  that  of  a  fascinating, 
high-bred  personality,  and  it  would  be  difficult  to  estimate 
the  value  of  his  example  in  giving  inspiration  and  uplift 
to  ingenuous  youth,  a  trait  perhaps  summed  up  in  the 


2io  JoHn.  SHaw  Billings 

maxim  of  Vauvenargues :  Les  grandes  pensees  viennent  du 
cceur. 

That  Billings  should  have  chosen  Osier,  a  character  so 
utterly  different  from  his  cool,  impersonal  self,  is  an  index 
of  his  rare  knowledge  of  men  and  of  his  capacity  to  appre- 
ciate traits  which  lay  outside  his  own  personality.  The 
same  spirit,  stimulating  the  students  to  work  not  for  show 
but  for  higher  ends,  not  by  the  compulsion  of  authority 
but  through  the  creation  of  an  inspiring  environment,  has 
been  consistently  maintained  by  the  other  leading  pro- 
fessors of  the  medical  faculty,  Welch,  Halsted,  and  Kelly. 
Of  Welch,  Professor  Thayer  has  said : 

What  suggestion  and  encouragement  did  we  all  receive  from 
the  delightful  talks  when  the  "Father"  as  we  lovingly  called 
him — when  we  didn't  call  him  "  Popsy  " —  passed  from  desk  to 
desk,  and  from  his  words  at  the  meetings  of  the  little  medical 
society  in  the  hospital  library.  But  that  inspiration  was  for  no 
small  group  of  men.  One  by  one  these  students  have  carried 
abroad  his  spirit  and  his  teachings  until  there  is  scarcely  a 
laboratory  in  this  country  that  does  not  contain  men  who  owe 
their  success  to  that  which  Welch  has  given  them. 

By  1893,  the  Medical  School  was  in  full  swing,  and  its 
faculty  soon  established  a  well-deserved  reputation,  at 
home  and  abroad,  for  original  scientific  work.  In  Welch's 
laboratory,  Nuttall,  Flexner,  Councilman,  Mall,  Abbott, 
Wright,  Sternberg,  Walter  Reed,  and  many  others  were 
trained,  and  out  of  it  came  his  own  original  work  on  the 
experimental  production  of  diphtheria  by  its  toxins,  on 
the  bacteriology  of  wound  infection,  on  the  gas  bacillus 
and  the  diseases  produced  by  it,  as  also  the  work  of  Walter 
Reed  on  the  pathology  of  typhoid  fever,  of  MacCallum  and 
Opie  on  the  malarial  parasite,  of  Opie  on  pancreatic  dia- 
betes, of  Thayer  and  Blumer  on  gonorrhceal  endocarditis. 
Reed,  Carroll,  and  Lazear,  who  discovered  the  causation 


THe  JoKns  HopKins  Hospital  211 

and  prevention  of  yellow  fever,  were  all  pupils  of  Welch. 
From  Osier's  clinic  came  the  extensive  studies  of  malarial 
fever  byThayer  and  others,  of  amoebic  dysentery  by  Coun- 
cilman and  Lafleur,  of  eosinophilia  by  Thayer  and  Brown, 
of  pneumothorax  by  Emerson. 

The  early  numbers  of  the  Hospital  Bulletin  contain 
Halsted's  operations  for  inguinal  hernia  and  amputation 
of  the  breast,  Kelly's  operation  of  hysterorrhaphy,  and 
many  of  his  other  gynecological  innovations.  In  the 
dermatological  clinic,  Gilchrist  described  blastomycosis 
and  Schenck  sporotrichosis.  From  the  Hunterian  labora- 
tory came  the  experimental  work  of  Gushing  and  his 
pupils  on  the  pituitary  body  and  its  diseases,  and  in 
pharmacology,  Crowe's  investigation  of  hexamethylen- 
amin,  Rowntree  and  Geraghty's  test  in  kidney  disease,  and 
Abel's  method  of  vividiffusion.  The  Journal  of  Experi- 
mental Medicine  founded  by  Welch  (1896),  and  continued 
by  Simon  Flexner,  and  Abel's  Journal  of  Pharmacology  and 
Therapeutics  (1909)  are  among  the  finest  of  our  scientific 
medical  periodicals,  and  the  treatises  of  Whitridge 
Williams  on  obstetrics  and  Howard  Kelly  on  medical 
and  surgical  gynecology,  illustrated  with  Max  Brodel's 
beautiful  drawings,  are  recognized  as  the  best  current 
American  books  on  these  subjects.  The  Training  School 
for  Nurses,  opened  on  October  9,  1889,  has  a  well-estab- 
lished reputation,  and  the  Psychiatric  Clinic,  donated  by 
Henry  Phipps,  and  opened  on  April  16,  1913,  has  estab- 
lished a  new  departure  in  the  care  and  treatment  of  the 
insane.  Under  the  administration  of  Dr.  Winford  H. 
Smith  and  Rupert  Norton,  who  succeeded  Dr.  Kurd, 
and  of  Professor  Lewellys  F.  Barker,  who  succeeded  Osier 
as  Physician-in-chief  in  1904,  the  Johns  Hopkins  Hospital 
has  kept  well  abreast  of  the  times  in  the  advancement  of 
scientific  medicine,  and  its  medical  graduates  have  carried 
the  spirit  of  its  teachings  all  over  the  United  States.  In 


212  JoHn  SHaw  Billings 

1913,  through  Mr.  Rockefeller's  gift  of  the  Welch  endow- 
ment, internal  medicine,  surgery,  and  pediatrics  will  in 
future  be  taught  by  "full  time"  professors. 

Henry  James,  in  The  American  Scene,  gives  the  following 
impressionistic  view  of  the  Johns  Hopkins  Hospital : 

Why  should  the  great  Hospital,  with  its  endless  chambers  of 
woe,  its  whole  air  as  of  most  directly  and  advisedly  facing,  as 
the  hospitals  of  the  world  go,  the  question  of  the  immensities 
of  pain — why  should  such  an  impression  actually  have  turned, 
under  the  spell,  to  fine  poetry,  to  a  mere  shining  vision  of  the 
conditions,  the  high  beauty  of  applied  science?  The  condi- 
tions, positively,  as  I  think  of  them  after  the  interval,  make  the 
poetry — the  large  art,  above  all,  by  which,  in  a  place  bristling 
with  its  terrible  tale,  everything  was  made  to  seem  fair  and 
fairest  even  while  it  most  intimately  concurred  in  the  work. 
In  short  if  the  Hospital  was  fundamentally  Universitarian — as 
of  the  domain  of  the  great  Medical  Faculty — so  it  partook  for 
me,  in  its  own  way,  of  the  University  glamour,  and  so  the 
tempered  morning,  and  the  shaded  splendour,  and  the  passive 
rows,  the  grim  human  alignments  that  became,  in  their  cool 
vistas,  delicate  "symphonies  in  white,"  and,  more  even  than 
anything  else,  the  pair  of  gallant  young  Doctors  who  ruled,  for 
me,  so  gently,  the  whole  still  concert,  abide  with  me,  collec- 
tively, as  agents  of  the  higher  tone. 

Thus  Billings  was  a  true  prophet.  All  the  fine  things  he 
had  predicted  for  the  Hospital,  twelve  years  before  its 
completion,  came  to  pass  in  time.  This  home  of  the 
higher  medicine  did,  in  effect,  realize  the  dreams  and 
hopes  of  generations,  as  if,  in  the  words  of  Goethe's  Chorus 
Mysticus,  the  unattainable  had  at  length  become  reality. 

With  Eliot  of  Harvard  and  Pepper  of  Philadelphia, 
Billings  will  always  be  remembered  in  our  medical  history 
as  one  of  those  who  have  dared  greatly  and  achieved 
greatly  for  the  advancement  of  higher  medical  education 
in  this  country. 


CHAPTER  V 
THE  SURGEON-GENERAL'S  LIBRARY  AND  CATALOGUE 

SOME  time  prior  to  1836,  there  existed  in  the  Surgeon- 
General's  Office  at  Washington  a  small  collection  of 
books  which  had  been  made  for  official  use  by 
General  Joseph  Lovell,1  who  had  been  appointed  Surgeon- 
General  of  the  Army  in  1818.  In  1840,  there  was  pre- 
pared a  manuscript  catalogue  of  this  small  office  collection 
which  shows,  by  actual  count,  that  it  consisted  of  135 
works,  comprising  228  volumes.  Dr.  William  A.  Ham- 
mond became  Surgeon-General  on  April  28,  1862,  and 
was  on  duty  in  Washington  until  August  30,  1863.  During 
his  official  residence  in  Washington,  359  volumes  were 
purchased  for  the  Surgeon-General's  Library,  the  principal 
items  being  sets  of  the  Annales  d 'hygiene  and  the  Boston 
Medical  and  Surgical  Journal,  making  the  total  number  of 
volumes  587.  On  May  10,  1864,  under  Surgeon-General 
Joseph  K.  Barnes,  a  small  interleaved  catalogue  was  pre- 
pared and  published,  showing  that  at  this  time,  the  collec- 
tion comprised  1365  volumes,  the  new  accessions  having 
been  mainly  selected  by  Drs.  J.  J.  Woodward  and  George 
A.  Otis.  This  was  the  first  printed  catalogue  of  the  Sur- 
geon-General's Library.  In  December  31,  1864,  Dr. 
Billings  was  assigned  to  duty  in  the  office,  acquiring  among 
other  things,  nominal,  though  not  official,  care  of  this 

1  J.  S.  Billings,  Med.  Record,  New  York,  1880,  xvii.,  299. 

213 


214  JoHn  SHaw  Billings 

collection  of  books.  On  October  23,  1865,  another 
catalogue  was  printed,  consisting  of  602  entries,  comprising 
2253  volumes.  The  growth  of  the  collection  from  this 
date  was  due  to  the  fact  that  the  Surgeon-General  was 
permitted  to  use  for  this  purpose  a  "slush-fund"  of 
$80,000  turned  in  from  the  Army  hospitals  at  the  close  of 
the  Civil  War, J  and  is  indicated  by  the  printed  catalogues 
of  June  12,  1868,  containing  2887  entries  (6066  volumes), 
and  of  1871,  including  13,330  volumes.  Prior  to  1871,  all 
these  were  author  catalogues,  but  the  latter,  a  handsomely 
printed  volume  with  leading  titles  in  bold-faced  type,  has 
subject  entries  as  well.  The  introductory  "Memoran- 
dum" of  this  volume  contains  the  following  paragraph: 

That  there  is  need  in  this  country  of  a  medical  library  of  this 
character  is  sufficiently  evident  from  the  fact  that,  in  all  the 
public  medical  libraries  of  the  United  States  put  together,  it 
would  not  be  possible  to  verify  from  the  original  authorities  the 
references  given  by  standard  English  or  German  authors,  such 
as  Hennen,  Reynolds,  or  Virchow.  No  complete  collection  of 
American  medical  literature  is  in  existence;  and  the  most 
complete,  if  in  this  country,  is  in  private  hands,  and  not  access- 
ible to  the  public;  while  every  year  adds  to  the  difficulty  of 
forming  such  a  collection  as  the  Government  should  possess. 
The  books  are  now  safely  and  conveniently  arranged  in  the 
fire-proof  building  of  the  Army  Medical  Museum,  and  are 
accessible  to  the  public  under  rules  and  regulations  essentially 
the  same  as  those  for  the  Library  of  Congress. 

Between  1865  and  1887,  the  Army  Medical  Museum 
was,  in  effect,  the  old  Ford's  Theatre,  in  which  President 
Lincoln  was  assassinated.  The  Surgeon-General's  Office 
proper,  during  this  period,  consisted  of  a  series  of  rooms  (on 
either  side  of  a  central  corridor)  over  the  old  Riggs's  Bank, 
at  the  corner  of  Fifteenth  Street  and  Pennsylvania  Avenue. 

1 S.  Weir  Mitchell,  Science,  N.  YM  1913,  n.  s.,  xxxviii.,  830. 


u 


Surgeon-General's  Library  and  Catalogue  215 

Here,  among  other  official  business,  all  new  accessions  in 
the  way  of  books,  pamphlets,  and  theses  were  ticketed  and 
catalogued,  after  which,  they  were  sent  to  the  Library 
hall  in  the  Ford's  Theatre,  which  was  then  in  charge  of 
Dr.  Thomas  A.  Wise.  So  small  were  the  accommodations 
over  Riggs's  Bank,  that  the  newly  arrived  boxes  of  books 
and  theses  had  to  be  opened  in  the  back  yard. 

In  the  Catalogue  of  1871,  already  mentioned,  the  ar- 
rangement of  authors  and  subjects  is  in  a  single  alphabet. 
In  1873,  a  three-volume  catalogue,  the  first  to  be  officially 
prepared  under  Dr.  Billings's  direction,  was  published 
consisting  of  anonymous  works  arranged  by  subjects,  in 
alphabetical  order,  with  lists  of  transactions,  reports,  and 
periodicals.  In  his  introductory  notice  to  this  catalogue, 
Dr.  Billings  states  that  "the  Library  now  contains  about 
25,000  volumes  and  15,000  single  pamphlets,  and  the 
present  catalogue  gives  about  50,000  titles  exclusive  of 
cross  references,"  the  excess  in  titles  being  due  to  some 
713  bound  volumes  of  pamphlets  and  about  700  volumes 
of  French  theses.  Nearly  4000  single  theses  and  pamph- 
lets, he  states,  have  been  deposited  in  the  Library  by  the 
Library  of  Congress. 

In  1876,  Dr.  Billings  published  a  Specimen  Fasciculus  of 
a  Catalogue  of  the  National  Medical  Library,  under  the 
Direction  of  the  Surgeon-General,  United  States  Army, 
which  was  submitted  to  the,  medical  profession  for  criti- 
cisms and  suggestions.  In  style  and  arrangement,  this 
publication  is  practically  identical  with  the  present  Index 
Catalogue,  differing  only  in  certain  typographical  details. 
The  index  of  authors  and  subjects  is  arranged  in  dictionary 
order  in  a  single  alphabet,  the  articles  indexed  from 
periodicals  are  printed  in  alphabetical  order  in  nonpareil 
type,  and  the  larger  subjects,  e.  g.,  Abdomen,  Abscess,  Acids, 
etc.,  are  carefully  subdivided.  At  this  time,  the  Library 
contained  about  forty  thousand  volumes  and  about  the 


216  JoHn  SHa~w  Billings 

same  number  of  pamphlets.    In  the  preface,  Dr.  Billings 
says: 

I  cannot  doubt  that  if  a  sufficient  number  of  the  catalogue, 
of  which  this  is  a  specimen,  be  printed,  and  distributed  to  our 
medical  writers  and  teachers,  so  that  they  may  at  their  leisure 
learn  what  aid  they  can  obtain  in  their  researches,  no  collec- 
tion of  the  Government  will  be  more  used  or  be  of  more  practi- 
cal utility;  that  it  will  soon  tend  to  elevate  the  standard  of 
medical  education,  literature,  and  scholarship  of  the  nation, 
and  will  thus  indirectly  be  for  the  benefit  of  the  whole  country, 
since  the  general  knowledge  and  skill  of  the  medical  profession 
become  a  matter  of  personal  interest  to  almost  every  individual 
at  some  time  during  the  course  of  his  life. 

The  Specimen  Fasciculus  was  extremely  well  received 
by  the  medical  profession.  In  his  Dedicatory  Address  at 
the  opening  of  the  Boston  Medical  Library  on  December 
3,  1878,*  Dr.  Oliver  Wendell  Holmes  referred  to  it  as 
follows : 

The  Specimen  Fasciculus  of  a  Catalogue  of  the  National  Medi- 
cal Library,  prepared  under  the  direction  of  Dr.  Billings,  the 
librarian,  would  have  excited  the  admiration  of  Haller,  the 
master  scholar  in  medical  science  of  the  last  century,  or  rather 
of  the  profession  in  all  centuries,  and  if  carried  out  as  it  is 
begun  will  be  to  the  nineteenth  all  and  more  than  all  that  the 
three  Bibliothecas — Anatomica,  Chirurgica,  and  Medicinae- 
Practicae — were  to  the  eighteenth  century.  I  cannot  forget 
the  story  that  Agassiz  was  so  fond  of  telling  of  the  King  of 
Prussia  and  Fichte.  It  was  after  the  humiliation  and  spolia- 
tion of  the  kingdom  by  Napoleon  that  the  monarch  asked  the 
philosopher  what  could  be  done  to  regain  the  lost  position  of 
the  nation.  "Found  a  great  university,  Sire, "  was  the  answer, 
and  so  it  was  that  in  the  year  1810  the  world-renowned  Uni- 
versity of  Berlin  came  into  being.  I  believe  that  we  in  this 

1  Am.  Jour.  Med.  Sc.,  Phila.,  Dec.,  1878,  p.  751. 


Surgeon-General's  Library  and  Catalogue  217 

country  can  do  better  than  found  a  national  university,  whose 
professors  shall  be  nominated  in  caucuses,  go  in  and  out, 
perhaps,  like  postmasters,  with  every  change  of  administration, 
and  deal  with  science  in  the  face  of  their  constituency  as  the 
courtier  did  with  time  when  his  sovereign  asked  him  what 
o'clock  it  was :  "  Whatever  hour  your  majesty  pleases. "  But 
when  we  have  a  noble  library  like  that  at  Washington,  and  a 
librarian  of  exceptional  qualifications  like  the  gentleman  who 
now  holds  that  office,  I  believe  that  a  liberal  appropriation  by 
Congress  to  carry  out  a  conscientious  work  for  the  advance- 
ment of  sound  knowledge  and  the  bettering  of  human  condi- 
tions, like  that  which  Dr.  Billings  has  so  well  begun,  would 
redound  greatly  to  the  honour  of  the  nation.  It  ought  to  be 
willing  to  be  at  some  charge  to  make  its  treasures  useful  to  its 
citizens,  and,  for  its  own  sake,  especially  to  that  class  which 
has  charge  of  health,  public  and  private. 


The  necessary  appropriations  for  the  Library  were 
eventually  made  by  Congress,  upon  which  its  collection 
of  books  gradually  expanded  from  year  to  year  up  to  its 
present  numerical  status  of  half  a  million  volumes.  But 
Dr.  Billings  did  not  rest  content  with  appropriations.  By 
means  of  gifts  and  exchanges  and  by  ransacking  such 
private  collections  as  were  generously  thrown  open  to  him 
he  laboured  indefatigably  towards  completing  his  collec- 
tion, obtaining  in  this  way  many  rare  desiderata  and  filling 
up  many  lacunas.  Dr.  Holmes  has  humorously  described 
a  visit  of  Billings  to  his  private  library  in  Cambridge,  how, 
directly  upon  entering  the  room,  he  swept  the  shelves 
with  a  keen  glance,  selected  the  most  valuable  book 
in  the  collection  with  unerring  precision,  looked  at  it  a 
moment,  put  it  back  on  the  shelves,  took  another  look 
around,  and  easily  found  the  second  book  in  the  scale  of 
values.  "Why  sir,"  said  Dr.  Holmes,  "Dr.  Billings 
is  a  bibliophile  of  such  eminence  that  I  regard  him  as 


2l8  John    Shaw    Billings 

a  positive  danger  to  the  owner  of  a  library,  if  he  is  ever 
let  loose  in  it  alone. " 

The  methods  employed  by  Billings  in  handling  and 
classifying  new  medical  literature  were  very  simple.  Upon 
the  accession  of  a  new  book  or  pamphlet,  it  is  properly 
stamped,  numbered,  registered,  and  ticketed  in  the  usual 
way,  after  which  two  entry  cards  are  written:  (i)  an 
author  card,  giving  author's  full  name,  the  title-page  in 
full,  pagination,  size,  place  of  publication,  publisher,  and 
date  of  publication.  On  the  back  of  this  card  the  date  of 
accession  is  pencilled,  also  whether  it  is  bound  or  unbound, 
and,  if  a  pamphlet,  the  number  of  the  box  in  which  it  is 
stored  or  the  volume  of  miscellanies  in  which  it  is  bound. 
The  author  card  is  thus  the  final  authority  as  to  the  loca- 
tion of  any  given  book  in  the  library.  These  cards,  to- 
gether with  cross  references  to  the  names  of  editors  or 
collaborators,  are  arranged  in  strictly  alphabetical  order, 
constituting  the  author  catalogue  of  the  Library.  (2) 
A  subject  card,  giving  author's  name  with  initials,  full 
title,  size,  place,  and  date  of  publication.  In  the  case  of 
articles  indexed  in  periodicals  only  a  subject  card  is 
written.  Over  the  top  of  each  of  these  cards  is  pencilled 
its  proper  place  in  the  subject  classification,  e.  g.,  Liver 
(Cirrhosis  of,  Treatment  of).  The  cards  are  then  classified 
by  their  subject  headings,  as  indicated  in  extenso  in  the 
Index  Catalogue.  This  simple  alphabetical  arrangement 
by  rubrics  dispenses  with  all  the  inconveniences  encoun- 
tered in  the  method  of  attaching  arbitrary  numerals  to 
the  different  items  in  a  scheme  of  classification  and  its 
subdivisions. 

Shortly  after  the  publication  of  the  Specimen  Fasciculus, 
Dr.  Billings  gained  the  valuable  assistance  of  Dr.  Robert 
Fletcher,  who  was  to  be  his  faithful  coadjutor  throughout 
the  first  series  of  the  Index  Catalogue,  and  who  was  to 
carry  on  the  redaction  of  the  major  part  of  the  second 


Surgeon-General's  Library  and  Catalogue  219 

series  after  its  founder's  retirement  from  active  service  in 
the  Army.  Dr.  Fletcher,  who  was  assigned  to  duty  in  the 
Surgeon-General's  Office  on  September  I,  1876,  was  a 
native  of  Bristol,  England,  and  a  graduate  of  the  Bristol 
Medical  School.  Coming  to  America  with  his  young  wife 
in  1847,  he  settled  in  Cincinnati,  and,  after  practising 
medicine  for  some  years  in  that  city,  entered  the  Army  as 
surgeon  of  volunteers  at  the  outbreak  of  the  Civil  War, 
in  which  his  service  was  distinguished,  and  afterwards 
made  his  mark  as  one  of  the  collaborators  of  the  Anthro- 
pometric  Statistics  published  by  the  Provost  Marshal's 
Bureau  of  the  War  Department,  to  which  compilation  he 
contributed  a  treatise  on  anthropometry.  Dr.  Fletcher 
was  a  true  scholar,  especially  learned  in  the  classics  and 
the  older  English  literature,  and,  during  his  long  life,  he 
made  many  valuable  contributions  to  anthropology  and 
the  history  of  medicine.  He  was  a  man  not  unlike  Billings 
in  character — forceful,  reliable,  honourable — but  of  a 
different  cast  of  mind.  Billings  was  essentially  the  man 
of  action  who  delights  in  doing  things  of  immediate  practi- 
cal moment.  Fletcher's  was  the  spirit  that  loves  to  browse 
and  delve  in  the  lore  of  the  past,  although,  up  to  his  nine- 
tieth year,  he  took  the  keenest  interest  in  all  advances  in 
medical  science.  Both  were  well-trained  physicians  and 
surgeons,  both  were  of  the  same  race,  both  had  the  same 
literary  and  social  tastes.  Thus  the  two  men  were  ad- 
mirably adapted  to  do  effective  team  work,  indeed,  as 
Professor  Welch  once  remarked,  they  worked  beautifully 
together. 

From  1876  on,  Billings  and  Fletcher  worked  steadily  at 
preparing  the  copy  of  the  prospective  Index  Catalogue  for 
a  period  of  four  years,  until,  partly  through  the  good 
offices  of  Dr.  Abraham  Jacobi,  Congress  at  length  made 
the  appropriation  for  printing  it  in  1880.  The  matter 
of  typography  and  general  arrangement  of  the  contents 


22O  John  SHaw  Billings 

having  been  settled  in  the  Specimen  Fasciculus,  the  main 
question  was  that  of  classification.  Following  the  general 
idea  of  a  subject  and  author  catalogue  arranged  in  dic- 
tionary order  in  a  single  alphabet,  the  special  subjects 
being  featured  by  means  of  key  titles  or  rubrics  in  heavy 
black  type,  it  was  found  that,  after  settling  upon  the  main 
grand  divisions,  such  as,  Aneurism,  Cancer,  Fever  (Ty- 
phoid), Labour,  Tumors,  etc.,  and  subdividing  these,  the 
subjects  of  lesser  weight  easily  fell  into  their  place  through 
the  simple  device  of  finding  the  centre  of  gravity  of  the 
title  in  each  case.  At  the  start,  Dr.  Billings  saw  clearly 
that  he  could  not  prepare  a  complete  bibliography  of  his 
subject  but  rather  a  bibliographical  conspectus  of  the 
contents  of  a  great  library,  happily  to  all  intents  and  pur- 
poses so  complete  that  it  became,  for  practical  use,  a 
working  bibliography  of  medicine.  Furthermore,  as 
modern  medical  science  was  even  then  beginning  to 
advance  by  leaps  and  bounds,  its  surface  aspects  con- 
stantly changing  as  it  advanced,  he  saw  at  once  that  it 
would  be  impossible  to  adopt  any  arbitrary  and  fixed 
classification,  based  upon  a  definite  scheme  of  nosology, 
since  any  such  scheme  would  be,  like  the  average  medi- 
cal text-book  of  to-day,  obsolete  in  a  few  years.  The 
flexible  plan  of  classification  which  Billings  adopted 
suggests  Matthew  Arnold's  comparison  of  American  insti- 
tutions to  a  suit  of  clothes  which  fits  the  wearer  well  but 
is  so  put  together  that  it  is  continuously  adaptable  to 
changes  in  growth  and  girth.  Dr.  Fletcher,  after  an  ex- 
perience of  many  years,  likened  the  Index  Catalogue  to  a 
vast  metropolitan  hotel1  containing  story  after  story  of 
rooms  and  suites  of  rooms  of  all  sizes  and  prices,  adapted  to 
tenants  of  every  degree  of  income  and  worldly  place.  In 
such  a  caravansary,  some  subjects  like  Labour,  Surgery, 
Water  Supply,  etc.,  are  old  wealthy  patrons  having  a  per- 

1  In  a  conversation  with  the  writer. 


Surgeon-General's  Library  and  Catalogue  221 

manent  claim  upon  apartments  of  vast  extent,  occupying 
an  entire  floor.  Others,  such  as  Acupuncture,  Amulets, 
Animism  are  on  such  a  slender  financial  footing  that  they 
must  put  up  with  hall  bed-rooms  or  be  "cabined,  cribbed, 
confined"  in  the  attic.  Others,  such  as  Arteriosclerosis, 
Bacteriology,  Parasitology,  Pellagra,  Poliomyelitis,  were 
once  poor  and  needy  but,  having  come  up  in  the  world, 
acquire  extensive  suites,  with  rooms  perchance  for  even 
maid  or  courier.  Others,  such  as  many  modern  drugs, 
diagnostic  tests,  and  surgical  procedures,  are  bounders  and 
get-rich-quick  parvenus,  who  exhaust  their  substance  in 
vain  and  vulgar  show,  fading  away  as  soon  as  their  credit 
is  gone.  This  comparison  of  Dr.  Fletcher's  gives  a  pictur- 
esque inside  view  of  the  Index  Catalogue.  As  the  plan  of 
the  First  Series  was  complex,  so  was  its  execution  re- 
markable for  simplicity  and  economy  of  means.  Liberal 
appropriations  from  Congress  afforded  opportunities  for 
purchasing,  not  only  the  greater  classics  of  medicine,  and 
its  modern  monographs,  but  all  the  important  medical 
periodicals  of  the  world  that  were  purchasable.  When 
the  bound  files  of  the  latter  began  to  arrive  in  the  early 
days,  Dr.  Billings,  with  characteristic  energy,  set  about 
the  task  of  checking  their  contents  for  indexing,  occupying 
even  his  private  leisure  with  this  work.  Almost  every  day, 
a  government  van  would  leave  a  wagon  load  of  bound 
periodicals  at  his  residence  in  Georgetown  and  the  next 
morning  would  find  their  principal  articles,  cases,  and 
essays  carefully  checked,  by  lead-pencil  markings,  for  the 
copyists  in  the  office.  This  night  work  continued  until 
the  gigantic  task  of  indexing  all  the  bound  periodicals  was 
accomplished,  but  even  in  the  later  days,  when  he  had 
only  the  current  unbound  periodicals  to  deal  with,  Billings 
still  continued  to  take  some  of  these  home  in  his  overcoat 
pocket,  or  to  have  them  sent  up  in  baskets,  for  checking. 
Meanwhile,  the  daily  office  routine  was  taken  up  in  in- 


222  JoKxi  SHaw  Billings 

structing  the  employees  in  the  library  tasks  of  indexing 
cards,  classifying  the  subject  and  author  catalogues,  and 
preparing  copy  for  the  printer.  When  Billings  took  charge 
of  the  Surgeon-General's  Library,  Government  employees 
were  not  appointed  by  competitive  civil  service  examina- 
tions, but  were  simply  pitchforked  into  the  service  through 
political  preferment  or  as  a  recognition  of  their  services 
in  the  Civil  War.  Most  of  the  employees  whom  Billings 
selected  for  this  work  came  from  the  latter  class,  being 
old  hospital  stewards,  one  or  two  of  whom  had  served  with 
Billings  in  the  field.  With  the  exception  of  Mr.  Edward 
Shaw,  a  Yale  graduate,  none  of  these  men  were  educated 
beyond  common  schooling,  but  as  old  soldiers  they  had  the 
dependability  and  reliability  upon  which  Billings  set  the 
highest  value.  Given  reliability,  he  reasoned,  and  I  can, 
by  intensive  training,  convert  it  into  efficiency.  The 
correctness  of  his  theory  may  be  judged  by  its  results. 
Like  Emerson's  cook  who,  by  dint  of  cooking  the  same 
dinner  over  and  over  again,  eventually  attained  perfection, 
so  these  old  employees,  none  of  them  linguists,  soon  learned 
the  rudimentary  technique  of  medical  bibliography  and 
by  the  publication  of  the  first  volume  of  the  catalogue, 
were  already  working  at  its  details  with  reasonable  pro- 
ficiency. Apart  from  Dr.  Fletcher  and  himself,  the  only 
linguists  Billings  had  were  a  few  industrious  Germans  of 
fair  education. 

In  1880,  the  first  volume  of  the  Index  Catalogue,  a 
massive  quarto  of  888  pages,  covering  the  literature  from 
A  to  Berlinski  was  published.  In  the  preface,  Dr.  Billings 
makes  due  acknowledgment  of 

the  valuable  assistance  which  I  have  received  from  Dr.  Rob- 
ert Fletcher  in  carrying  this  volume  through  the  press,  assist- 
ance which  has  gone  far  beyond  mere  routine  or  the  limits  of 
office  hours,  and  without  which  I  should  have  found  it  impos- 


Surgeon-General's  Library  and  Catalogue  223 

sible  to  have  done  the  work,  and  to  have  performed  my  other 
official  duties; 

and  he  makes  similar  acknowledgments  to  the  help  ren- 
dered by  Drs.  Henry  C.  Yarrow  and  Charles  Rice,  who 
were  also  engaged  upon  the  work  at  this  time.  Upon 
its  publication,  the  Catalogue  was  gradually  sent  out  to 
universities,  laboratories,  medical  and  public  libraries, 
boards  of  health,  and  to  physicians  specially  interested  in 
scientific  medicine  or  in  medical  literature  as  such.  Its 
reception  by  the  medical  profession  and  the  organs  of 
opinion  in  Europe  and  America  was  flattering  in  the 
highest  degree ;  and  there  is  no  doubt  that  the  appearance 
of  this  epoch-making  work,  in  connection  with  the  reputa- 
tion already  established  by  Billings  as  designer  of  the 
Johns  Hopkins  Hospital,  led  the  committee  of  the  Inter- 
national Medical  Congress  to  ask  him  to  make  one  of  the 
principal  addresses  at  its  meeting  in  London  in  1881.  The 
appearance  of  the  Index  Catalogue  marked  an  epoch  in 
the  development  and  improvement  of  medical  literature, 
particularly  in  the  United  States.  Editors  of  medical 
journals,  chiefs  of  clinics  and  laboratories,  and  physicians 
writing  upon  all  branches  of  medicine,  who  formerly  had 
to  obtain  historical,  statistical,  and  other  data  in  the  most 
haphazard  way,  now  had  their  materials  ready  to  hand  in 
the  most  convenient  and  accessible  form  possible,  that  is, 
the  strictly  alphabetical. 

An  index  catalogue  [says  General  Woodhull,]  is  not  a  muster 
roll,  it  is  not  a  mere  list,  like  Homer's  Catalogue  of  the  Ships. 
It  is  as  though  the  contents  of  the  ships  are  itemized  and  so 
scheduled  that  every  article  and  its  uses  are  invoiced  in  such  a 
way  that  everything  aboard  the  fleet  may  be  accessible  with- 
out confusion  or  delay.  There  must  be  technical  knowledge, 
infallible  arrangement  and  unceasing  industry.1 

'Woodhull,  /.  Mil.  Sen.  Inst.  U.  S.,  Governor's  Island,  N.  Y.  H.,  1913, 


224  JoHn  SHaw  Billings 

In  short,  although  Billings  did  not  regard  the  Index 
Catalogue  as  a  strictly  scientific  production,  yet  none  the 
less  it  had  and  has  the  definite  labour-saving  intention 
avowed  in  all  scientific  procedure,  to  economize  effort 
and  prevent  the  dissipation  of  energy.  In  this  regard,  we 
need  only  compare  it  with  those  systems  of  bibliography 
in  which  titles  are  to  be  located  by  definite  and  arbitrarily 
affixed  numerals,  as  in  the  Dewey  system;  or  with  those  in 
which  each  title  is  tucked  away  in  some  minute  subdivision 
determined  by  a  strictly  scientific  classification,  as  in  the 
admirable  International  Catalogue  of  Scientific  Literature 
published  by  the  Royal  Society.  In  each  of  these  classi- 
fications, a  complex  mental  operation  is  necessary,  not 
only  for  the  classifier  to  put  the  title  in  the  right  place  in 
the  first  instance,  but  for  the  anxious  inquirer  to  find  it 
after  it  has  been  so  placed.  The  writer  has  had  some  slight 
experience  with  these  modes  of  classification  and  while 
they  are  most  interesting  and  instructive  to  work  with, 
to  find  something  wanted  in  them  on  the  spur  of  the 
moment  seems  not  unlike  the  difficulties  encountered  by 
those  learning  to  play  the  French  horn:  the  player  must 
first  purse  his  lips  to  form  a  correct  embouchure,  he  must 
read  the  notes  on  the  staff  and  transpose  them  from  the 
arbitrary  clef  into  the  proper  key,  and,  having  done  this, 
he  must,  by  the  combined  action  of  his  mind  and  his  lungs, 
give  the  right  pitch,  volume,  and  dynamic  effect  to  these 
notes,  or  the  results  will  be  disastrous.  In  regard  to  the 
difficulties  experienced  by  those  attempting  to  find  things 
placed  in  a  numerical  rather  than  an  alphabetical  classi- 
fication, we  may  recall  the  instance  of  the  poet  who 
claimed  that  there  were  only  two  copies  of  his  work  in 
existence;  one  was  irrecoverably  lost,  the  other  was  con- 
cealed under  a  wrong  entry  in  the  Library  of  the  British 
Museum.  In  the  cataloguing  of  subjects,  it  is  true  that  the 
larger  secular  libraries,  such  as  those  of  London,  Washing- 


Surgeon-General's  Library  and  Catalogue  225 

ton,  and  New  York,  which  take  all  knowledge  for  their 
province,  have  found  it  best  to  issue  such  catalogues  in 
the  form  of  special  bulletins;  but  one  of  the  best  general 
subject-author  catalogues  for  working  purposes  is  that  of 
the  Peabody  Library  in  Baltimore,  which  follows  the  Index 
Catalogue  in  arrangement  and  mode  of  classification,  while 
adhering  to  the  British  Museum  idea  of  tagging  individual 
books  with  special  (plus  or  minus)  numbers,  which  locate 
their  place  in  the  alcoves.  A  certain  eminent  physician 
once  cynically  defined  the  Index  Catalogue  as  a  repository 
of  "clerk's  work";  and  this,  in  a  sense,  it  is,  since  even  in 
laboratory  investigations,  "bundles  and  files  of  facts  are 
not  science."  In  the  same  sense,  the  Pyramids  and  the 
great  cathedrals  of  the  Middle  Ages  were  the  work  of 
ordinary  masons  and  stone  cutters,  but  even  as  these 
stupendous  structures  glimpse  the  master  architect  behind 
them,  so  under  the  firm  guiding  hand  of  Billings,  the  first 
sixteen  volumes  of  the  Index  Catalogue  were  slowly  evolved 
year  by  year,  forming,  in  the  end,  a  definite  world-record 
of  the  scientific  endeavour  of  physicians  in  all  ages  and  a 
permanent  monument  to  his  memory.  No  one  has  ever 
given  to  secular  history  or  to  physical  science  what  Billings 
has  given  to  medicine  and  the  medical  historian. 

One  year  before  the  publication  of  the  first  volume  of 
the  Index  Catalogue,  Dr.  Billings  and  Dr.  Fletcher  hit 
upon  another  bibliographical  expedient,  the  design  of 
which  was  to  give  physicians  a  classified  record  of  the 
current  medical  literature  of  the  world,  month  by  month. 
This  was  the  Index  Medicus,  the  editorial  management  of 
which  was  principally  in  the  hands  of  Dr.  Fletcher.  The 
first  monthly  number  of  this  publication  was  issued  on 
January  31,  1879.  It  consists  of  a  handsomely  printed 
fasciculus,  giving  the  medical  literature  of  the  preceding 
month  carefully  arranged  as  to  subject-rubrics.  The 
classification,  as  covering  a  smaller  body  of  material,  is 

IS 


226  JoHn  SHaw  Billings 

more  general  and  less  subdivided  than  that  of  the  Index 
Catalogue,  the  scheme  of  nomenclature  and  nosology  being, 
as  the  editors  state,  essentially  that  adopted  by  the  Royal 
College  of  Physicians  of  London,  "  based  upon  Dr.  Fair's 
well-known  system."  In  the  preface,  physicians  are 
urged  to  subscribe  promptly  to  the  Index,  and  to  forward 
to  the  editors  a  copy  of  every  book,  pamphlet,  or  other 
production  which  they  may  regard  as  worthy  of  being 
included  in  it.  "If  these  suggestions  are  complied  with," 
Billings  adds,  "I  feel  sure  that  all  parties  will  be  satisfied 
with  the  results,  which  may  expand  beyond  anything  now 
promised."  In  connexion  with  the  classification,  he 
goes  on  to  say  that  in  medical  bibliography,  "nosology 
must  hold  a  subordinate  place,  because  medical  writers 
do  not  adhere  to  a  uniform  system  of  classification."  In 
the  first  volume  of  the  Index  Medicus,  a  special  page  of 
medical  "Notes  and  Queries"  is  included  at  the  end  of 
each  number,  consisting  of  questions  and  answers  bearing 
upon  rare  books  and  editions,  and  other  recondite  things 
in  medical  bibliography  and  history.  A  running  fire  of 
these  was  kept  up  for  about  a  year,  the  principal  contribu- 
tors being  Billings,  Fletcher,  and  Mr.  Thomas  Windsor, 
but  the  clever  idea  not  receiving  the  interest  and  support 
from  the  profession  which  it  deserved,  it  was  discontinued. 
To  the  first  volume  also,  Billings  contributed  a  special 
bibliography  of  the  literature  of  public  hygiene.  When 
the  twelve  monthly  numbers  for  the  year  1879  were 
complete,  an  annual  author  and  subject  index  of  the  whole 
material  was  prepared,  the  subject  index  being  minutely 
subdivided,  forming,  in  respect  of  classification,  a  sort  of 
annual  Index  Catalogue  en  miniature.  In  spite  of  the  great 
help  which  it  held  out  to  the  medical  profession,  the  Index 
Medicus  has  never  had  many  subscribers  and  its  fortunes 
have  been  varied.  The  first  series  ran  through  twenty- 
one  volumes,  which  had  their  ups  and  downs.  In  1884, 


Surgeon-General's  Library  and  Catalogue  227 

the  original  publisher,  Mr.  F.  Leypoldt  of  New  York,  died, 
and  the  hazards  of  the  venture  were  undertaken  by  Mr. 
George  S.  Davis,  of  Detroit.  He  too  succumbed  to  the 
inevitable,  failing  in  1894,  after  which  Dr.  Fletcher  him- 
self undertook  the  business  management  as  well  as  the 
editorial  supervision,  with  Messrs.  Rockwell  and  Churchill 
of  Boston  as  publishers,  the  price  of  the  publication  hav- 
ing been  raised  to  twenty-five  dollars.  Under  this  new 
arrangement,  the  journal  ran  through  four  volumes  (1894- 
98),  but  had  to  be  finally  discontinued  on  account  of  lack 
of  financial  support.  An  attempt  to  revive  the  Index 
Medicus  was  made  by  MM.  Charles  Richet  and  Marcel 
Baudouin  in  Paris,  running  through  three  volumes.  The 
Index  Medicus  was  ultimately  revived  and  permanently 
put  upon  its  feet  under  the  patronage  of  the  Carnegie 
Institution  of  Washington  in  1903,  with  Dr.  Fletcher  as 
editor-in-chief.  It  is  still  current. 

Early  in  the  year  1881 ,  Dr.  Billings  received  a  cablegram, 
of  date  January  I4th,  from  Sir  William  Macormac  reading, 
"Committee  invites  you  to  give  general  address  to  Con- 
gress." This  referred  to  the  International  Medical 
Congress  which  was  to  meet  in  London  during  the  coming 
summer.  To  this  cablegram  Dr.  Billings,  after  due  delib- 
eration, replied  on  the  following  day,  "  Honour  appreciated 
and  accepted."  The  "honour"  was,  in  fact,  a  distin- 
guished one  and  had  not  been  conferred  upon  any  Ameri- 
can physician  before  this  period.  On  February  28,  1881, 
he  received  an  equally  flattering  proposal  from  Sir  John 
Simon  to  take  a  leading  part  in  the  proceedings  in  the 
section  on  state  medicine  on  the  first  day  of  its  meetings. 
In  due  course,  Dr.  Billings  received,  "by  command  of 
General  Sherman,"  the  usual  order  from  the  Adjutant- 
General  (R.  C.  Drum)  directing  him  to  proceed  to  London 
in  August  as  a  delegate  to  the  Congress,  with  further 
instructions  to  visit  "in  the  interests  of  the  Medical 


228  JoKn  SHaw  Billings 

Department,  such  points  in  Holland,  Belgium,  Germany 
and  elsewhere,  as  may  be  deemed  necessary  by  the  Sur- 
geon-General of  the  Army."  The  order  of  the  Surgeon- 
General  (Joseph  K.  Barnes),  of  date  June  8th,  further 
directed  him  to  confer  with  the  agents  of  the  Surgeon- 
General's  Office  in  London,  Paris,  Amsterdam,  and  Leipzig 
in  regard  to  the  system  of  exchanges  between  the  office 
and  European  institutions;  to  secure  such  exchanges, 
wherever  possible,  especially  with  university  libraries 
and  medical  schools;  to  examine  into  "the  most  recent 
and  best  specimens  of  hospital  construction,  and  also  of 
museum  and  library  buildings,  in  England,  France  and 
Germany" ;  and  to  make  special  inquiry  into  the  methods 
of  obtaining  and  compiling  vital  statistics  in  England, 
Belgium,  France,  Germany,  Switzerland,  Austria,  Holland, 
and  Italy,  in  order  to  furnish  the  National  Board  of 
Health  with  information  upon  this  subject.  The  precise 
order  in  which  these  instructions  were  to  be  carried  out 
was  left  to  the  discretion  of  Dr.  Billings  himself,  and  he  was 
directed  to  return  not  later  than  November  2Oth.  On 
June  2Oth,  he  sailed  on  S.  S.  Scythia,  arriving  at  Liverpool 
on  July  4th.  A  few  extracts  from  his  letters  follow : 

June  23,  1 88 1.  On  board  Steamship  Scythia.  We  are  now 
about  three  hundred  miles  from  New  York,  with  the  sea  as 
smooth  as  a  pond,  a  bright  sun  and  a  very  faint  breeze.  .  .  . 
I  have  made  several  pleasant  acquaintances  and  find  one  or 
two  doctors  on  board  whom  I  know  very  well — among  others 
Dr.  Austin  Flint,  senior,  of  New  York.  .  .  .  Dr.  Ring,  the 
ship's  surgeon,  was  surgeon  of  the  Batavia  when  I  went  over  in 
1876. 

June  25.  I  had  a  long  talk  this  morning  with  Rev.  John 
Hall,  the  pastor  of  the  Fifth  Avenue  Presbyterian  Church 
of  New  York,  a  big  Irishman  with  a  correspondingly  big 
heart. 


Svirgfeon-GeneraFs  Library  and  Catalogue  229 

June  26.  Whist  last  night  with  Drs.  Harrison  and  McEwen 
and  Mr.  Duncan,  Dr.  Flint  of  N.  Y.  joining.  They  all  took 
Welsh  rabbit  about  10  P.M.,  but  I  was  wiser,  and  find  that  this 
morning  I  am  much  happier  than  they  are. 

July  i.  (Friday)  We  shall  reach  Liverpool  Sunday 
morning. 

July  4.  Liverpool.  The  news  from  Garfield  is  less  favourable 
this  afternoon  and  I  fear  there  is  trouble  ahead.  I  have  been 
running  around  all  day  and  feel  quite  tired,  but  must  go  and 
dress  for  dinner  with  Dr.  Braidwood.  I  go  to  London  to-night, 
and  meet  Mr.  King  there  to-morrow. 

July  12.  Brussels.  We  are  at  the  Hotel  Mengelles,  on  the 
Rue  Royale,  a  fine  hotel,  and  from  the  little  I  have  seen  of  it,  I 
think  this  is  a  beautiful  city.  .  .  .  During  the  Congress  in 
London,  I  am  going  to  stay  with  Dr.  Ord,  who  is  the  Dean  of 
St.  Thomas's  Medical  School  and  the  Secretary  of  the  Nomen- 
clature Committee  of  the  Royal  College  of  Physicians.  On 
Tuesday,  August  2, 1  dine  with  Mr.  John  Simon,  the  Chairman 
of  the  Section  of  State  Medicine,  on  the  3rd,  with  Sir  William 
Gull  to  meet  the  Prince  of  Wales,  on  the  4th,  with  the  Lord 
Mayor,  on  the  5th,  with  Mr.  Erichsen,  on  the  6th,  with  the 
Hospital  Club,  on  the  yth,  with  Mr.  Lister,  etc.  You  see  my 
time  is  pretty  well  filled  up.  On  Sunday  last,  I  went  with  Dr. 
Brunton  out  to  Mrs.  Craik's  (nee  Muloch,  author  of  John 
Halifax,  etc.).  It  is  a  beautiful  place,  and  crammed  full  of 
beautiful  things,  among  which  a  sketch  by  Turner  pleased  me 
most.  Mrs.  Craik  I  did  not  see  as  she  was  away.  I  am  to 
meet  her  on  my  return.  ...  A  string  of  milk  women  in 
wooden  shoes  has  just  gone  by.  Each  one  has  a  little  cart 
drawn  by  a  big  dog,  and  the  whole  arrangement  is  decidedly 
something  new.  ...  I  see  the  President  continues  to  im- 
prove. If  he  recovers  it  will  be  a  lucky  shot. 

July  17.  Heidelberg.  My  dear  little  Maggie.  Your  letter 
was  the  first  one  I  had  got  from  home  since  I  came  away,  and 


230  JoKn  SHa-w  Billings 

I  was  very  glad  to  hear  of  your  garden  party,  and  that  you  are 
having  such  a  good  time.  I  find  that  the  little  girls  here  look  a 
good  deal  like  the  little  girls  in  Georgetown.  They  all  seem  to 
have  eyes  and  teeth  and  hair,  and  the  only  curious  thing  about 
them  is  that  they  all  talk  German  surprisingly  well.  One  of 
them  came  up  to  me  this  morning  and  said:  "Guten  M or  gen, 
mein  Herr,  Wollen  Sie  mir  nicht  einen  Pfennig  geberi?"  And 
I  said:  "Thank  you,  but  I  believe  I  don't  want  any. "  I  can't 
write  you  a  long  letter  this  time.  ...  I  am  going  to  walk  up 
on  a  mountain  behind  the  hotel  to  see  an  old  castle.  So  good- 
bye. 

July  21.  H6tel  des  Trois  Rois,  Bale,  Switzerland.  We  left 
Heidelberg  on  Tuesday  morning  and  went  to  Strasbourg. 
There  for  the  first  time  I  saw  storks  and  their  nests  on  the 
chimneys  of  the  houses.  The  Strasbourg  Cathedral  is  the 
most  beautiful  one  I  have  seen.  It  has  a  large  rose  window  at 
one  end  filled  with  old  stained  glass  just  like  a  spider's  web 
woven  in  stone  and  gems.  The  famous  clock  went  through  its 
performance  for  us,  and  the  skeleton  struck  four  in  a  most 
impressive  manner.  From  Strasbourg  we  went  yesterday 
morning  to  Freiburg,  which  stands  on  the  edge  of  the  Black 
Forest.  There  we  saw  the  University,  and  the  Cathedral  and 
got  a  German  dinner  which  was  entirely  too  much  for  Mr. 
King  and  came  near  driving  me  out  of  the  room.  Last  night 
we  came  here.  It  is  now  7:30  A.  M.  and  I  am  sitting  by  a  win- 
dow in  the  fourth  story  of  the  hotel,  out  of  which  as  I  look  I 
can  see  the  hills  of  the  Black  Forest  in  the  distance.  The  hotel 
stands  on  the  edge  of  the  Rhine  and  immediately  under  my 
window  are  three  or  four  boys  fishing.  It  is  all  very  beautiful, 
but  the  intense  heat  prevents  enjoyment. 

July  24.  H6tel  Beau  Rivage,  Geneva.  Got  here  yesterday 
afternoon.  .  .  .  Mr.-  King  has  been  sick  for  two  or  three  days, 
and  travelling  with  him  is  like  having  a  piece  of  very  delicate 
china  under  one's  charge.  He  is,  however,  a  very  pleasant 
travelling  companion,  and  it  is  very  fortunate  for  me  that  I 
have  been  able  to  make  this  trip  with  him.  .  .  .  We  shall 


Surgeon-General's  Library  and  Catalogue  231 

make  a  little  excursion  on  the  Lake  to-morrow,  and  the  next 
day  leave  for  Paris.  I  had  a  beautiful  view  of  Mont  Blanc 
from  here  last  evening  at  sunset.  It  looked  like  a  faint  rose- 
coloured  cloud  in  the  distance. 

July  31.  Oxford.  I  am  spending  this  Sunday  at  Dr.  Ac- 
land's  in  preparation  for  the  hard  week's  work  which  is  just 
before  me.  ...  I  am  in  the  Library  which  is  a  sort  of  beau 
ideal  of  a  library.  There  is  hardly  room  to  walk  through  it, 
it  is  crammed  so  full  of  extra  cases,  carved  chairs,  etc.  .  .  . 
As  yet  I  have  not  been  able  to  make  any  plans  as  to  what  I 
shall  do  after  the  Congress.  I  have  received  an  invitation 
from  the  President-elect  of  the  British  Medical  Association  to 
stay  with  him  at  the  Isle  of  Wight,  during  the  meeting  of  the 
Association  there,  and  I  shall  probably  accept  for  two  or  three 
days.  August  i,  7  A.M.  Yesterday  afternoon  it  cleared  up 
and  I  had  a  lovely  drive  with  Dr.  Acland  to  a  little  village 
called  Thame,  fourteen  miles  from  here.  It  was  a  typical 
English  rural  scene  that  we  went  through  and  a  typical  little 
English  village,  remote  from  the  usual  lines  of  travel,  that  we 
went  to.  On  the  way  back,  we  stopped  at  the  place  of  a  typi- 
cal old-fashioned  English  squire's — a  Mr.  Ashhurst — where  I 
saw  the  most  beautiful  lawn  and  garden  that  I  have  ever  seen. 
.  .  .  Leave  for  London  at  nine  to-day.  I  am  to  dine  with  a 
club  of  Edinburgh  graduates. 

London,  August  9,  1881.  The  Congress  will  finish  to-day 
and  I  am  not  sorry.  I  have  had  a  splendid  time,  having  been 
given  the  seat  of  honour  and  having  had  the  utmost  courtesy 
and  hospitality  shown  me  everywhere.  My  address  was  a 
great  success.  The  audience  actually  rose  at  me  when  it  was 
done,  and  shouted  and  cheered  until  they  were  hoarse.  Sir 
James  Paget,  the  President  of  the  Congress,  rose  and  said  that 
if  the  Congress  had  done  nothing  else  but  produce  that  address 
it  would  have  been  worth  while  to  have  held  it.  You  see  how 
my  good  luck  continues,  good  luck  which  I  always  say  dates 
from  the  time  I  met  you.  .  .  .  The  Congress  is  entirely  over 
and  I  leave  this  morning  for  Ryde  in  the  Isle  of  Wight,  where 


232  JoKn  SHa-w  Billings 

I  am  to  be  the  guest  of  the  President  of  the  British  Medical 
Association. 

On  August  5th,  Dr.  Billings  delivered  his  address  before 
the  International  Medical  Congress  on  "Our  Medical 
Literature,"  a  discourse  which  made  a  deep  impression 
by  reason  of  its  unusual  display  of  wit  and  wisdom.  He 
begins  with  a  modest  reference  to  the  embarrassment 
occasioned  by  so  great  an  honour  and  the  natural  choice 
of  a  subject  with  which  his  library  work  had  made  him 
familiar.  By  "Our  Medical  Literature"  he  means  not 
the  literature  of  any  particular  country  or  nation,  but 
"the  literature  which  forms  the  intra-  and  international 
bond  of  the  medical  profession  of  all  civilized  countries; 
and  by  virtue  of  which  we,  who  have  come  here  from  the 
far  West  and  farther  East,  do  not  now  meet,  for  the  first 
time,  as  strangers,  but  as  friends."  After  reminding  his 
audience  that  about  one- thirtieth  of  the  mass  of  the  world's 
literature  is  medical,  comprising  a  little  over  120,000 
volumes  and  about  twice  that  number  of  pamphlets,  in- 
creasing at  the  rate  of  about  1500  volumes  and  2500 
pamphlets  annually,  he  proceeds,  by  his  favourite  statisti- 
cal method,  to  give  a  number  of  kaleidoscopic  views  of  the 
rate  of  production  in  countries  and  from  various  angles, 
pointing  out  that  the  number  of  physicians  who  write 
was  (at  that  time)  least  in  the  United  States  and  greatest 
in  France  (on  account  of  the  large  number  of  French 
graduating  theses) ;  that,  exclusive  of  the  inaugural  disser- 
tations, France,  Germany,  and  the  United  States  lead  in 
the  production  of  books  and  pamphlets.1  In  periodical 
literature,  the  order  is,  United  States,  Germany,  France, 
although  Germany  actually  produces  the  greatest  bulk  of 
periodical  literature  because  the  individual  monographs 

1  In  1912,  the  order  was  Germany,  Italy,  France,  United  States, 
(Paris  med.,  Jan.  31, 1914,  Suppl.,  p.  371). 


Surgeon-General's  Library  and  Catalogue  233 

and  articles  are  much  longer.  Germany  also  leads  in 
anatomy,  physiology,  and  pathology,  France  and  the 
United  States  in  practical  (internal)  medicine.  These 
figures,  he  says,  are  not  to  be  taken  literally,  but  represent 
"merely  the  opinions  of  an  individual": 

Be  that  as  it  may,  I  think  we  can  take  them  as  indicating 
certain  differences  in  the  direction  of  work  of  the  medical 
authors  of  the  great  civilized  nations  of  the  earth;  but  they 
must  be  considered  as  approximations  only ;  and  the  statistical 
axiom  must  be  remembered  that  the  results  obtained  from  a 
large  number  of  facts  are  applicable  to  an  aggregate  of  similar 
facts  but  not  to  single  cases.  There  will  be  a  certain  number 
of  medical  books  and  papers  printed  next  year,  just  as  there 
will  be  a  certain  number  of  children  born; — and  as  we  can 
within  certain  limits  predict  the  number  of  these  births  and 
the  proportion  of  the  sexes,  or  even  of  monsters; — so  we  can 
within  certain  limits  predict  the  amount  and  character  of 
literature  that  is  yet  to  come,  the  ideas  that  are  yet  unborn. 
.  .  .  Speaking  broadly  we  may  say  that  at  present  Germany 
leads  in  scientific  medicine  both  in  quantity  and  quality  of 
product,  and  that  the  rising  generation  of  physicians  are  learn- 
ing German  physiology.  But  the  seed  has  gone  abroad  and 
scientific  work  is  receiving  more  and  more  appreciation 
everywhere. 

Passing  to  the  subject  of  medical  education,  he  notes 
that  there  is  widespread  dissatisfaction  with  existing  con- 
ditions everywhere,  but  no  general  agreement  as  to  the 
remedy : 

Solomon's  question,  "Wherefore  is  there  a  price  in  the  hands 
of  a  fool  to  get  wisdom,  seeing  he  hath  no  heart  to  it?"  is  now 
easily  answered,  for  even  a  fool  knows  that  he  must  have  a 
semblance  of  wisdom,  and  a  diploma  to  imply  it,  if  he  is  to 
succeed  in  the  practice  of  medicine ;  but  to  ensure  the  value  of  a 
diploma  as  a  proof  of  education  is  the  difficulty.  The  evidence 


234  JoHn  SHaw  Billings 

of  discontent  and  tendency  to  change  is  a  good  sign.  In  these 
matters  stillness  means  sleep  or  death — and  the  fact  that  a 
stream  is  continually  changing  its  bed  shows  that  its  course 
lies  through  fertile  alluvium  and  not  through  sterile  lava  or 
granite.  I  have  said  that  as  regards  scientific  medicine  we  are 
at  present  going  to  school  to  Germany.  This,  however,  is  not 
the  case  with  regard  to  therapeutics,  either  external  or  internal, 
— in  regard  to  which  I  presume  that  the  physicians  of  each 
nation  are  satisfied  as  to  their  own  pre-eminence.  At  all 
events  it  is  true  that,  for  the  treatment  of  the  common  diseases, 
a  physician  can  obtain  his  most  valuable  instruction  in  his  own 
country;  among  those  whom  he  is  to  treat.  Just  as  each  in- 
dividual is  in  some  respects  peculiar  and  unique,  so  that  even 
the  arrangement  of  the  minute  ridges  and  furrows  at  the  end  of 
his  forefinger  differs  from  that  of  all  other  forefingers,  and  is 
sufficient  to  identify  him;  and  as  the  members  of  certain 
families  require  special  care  to  guard  against  haemorrhage,  or 
insanity,  or  phthisis;  so  it  is  with  nations  and  races.  The 
experienced  military  surgeon  knows  this  well,  and  in  the  United 
States,  which  is  now  the  great  mixing  ground,  illustrations  of 
race  peculiarities  are  familiar  to  every  practitioner. 

Taking  up  Du  Bois  Reymond's  lament  that  science  is 
becoming  too  utilitarian,  too  materialistic,  and  is  in  pro- 
cess of  being  destroyed  by  the  very  industries  to  which 
it  gives  rise,  a  tendency  which  the  distinguished  physio- 
logist blames,  as  usual,  upon  the  United  States,  Billings 
considers  the  burthen  of  his  plaint  as  follows : 

It  has  become  the  custom  to  characterize  as  "Americaniza- 
tion" the  dreaded  permeation  of  European  civilization  by 
realism.  If  this  characterization  be  correct  it  would  seem  that 
Europe  is  pretty  thoroughly  Americanized  as  regards  attention 
to  material  interests  and  appreciation  of  practical  results. 
But  the  truth  of  the  picture  seems  to  me  doubtful.  Science  is 
becoming  popular,  even  fashionable,  and  some  of  its  would-be 
votaries  rival  the  devotees  of  modern  J5stheticism  in  their 


Surgeon-General's  Library  and  Catalogue  235 

dislike  and  fear  of  the  sunlight  of  comprehensibility  and 
common  sense.  The  languid  scientific  swell  who  thinks  it  bad 
style  to  be  practical,  who  takes  no  interest  in  anything  but 
pure  science,  and  makes  it  a  point  to  refrain  from  any  investi- 
gations which  might  lead  to  useful  results  lest  he  might  be 
confounded  with  mere  "practical  men"  or  "inventors,"  exists 
and  has  his  admirers.  We  have  such  in  medicine,  and  their 
number  will  increase. 

Taking  up  now  the  actual  relation  of  his  subject  to  the 
advancement  of  the  science  and  art  of  medicine,  he  first 
notes  the  dangers  of  separating  physiology  proper  from 
internal  medicine  and  pathology,  since  in  the  ward  and 
the  dead-house,  Nature  is  always  the  best  vivisector;  yet, 
curiously  enough,  he  challenges  Michael  Foster's  view  that 
physiology  and  pathology  can  no  more  be  separated  than 
meteorology  can  be  divided  into  sciences  of  good  and  bad 
weather,  and  insists  that  the  artificial  production  and  re- 
production of  disease  in  the  laboratory  cannot  keep  pace 
with  the  knowledge  to  be  gained  by  observation  of  the  sick 
themselves.  Yet  experimental  pathology  had  been  founded 
by  Claude  Bernard,  Frerichs,  and  Traube  long  before 
Billings  wrote;  Koch  himself  was  introducing  his  most 
telling  innovation  in  bacteriology  at  the  Congress  at  which 
Billings  spoke,  and  the  rapid  advances  since  made  in  this 
branch  of  scientific  medicine  need  only  be  referred  to. 
While  pointing  out  the  evils  of  specialism,  when  not  based 
on  a  broad  foundation,  he  does  not  gainsay  its  advantages: 

The  tool  must  have  an  edge  if  it  is  to  cut.  It  is  by  the 
labour  of  specialists  that  many  of  the  new  channels  for  thought 
and  research  have  been  opened,  and  if  the  flood  has  sometimes 
seemed  to  spread  too  far,  and  to  lose  itself  in  shallow  and  sandy 
places,  it  has  nevertheless  tended  to  fertilize  them  in  the  end. 
The  specialists  are  not  only  making  the  principal  advances  in 
science  but  they  are  furnishing  both  strong  incentives  and 


236  JoKn  SHaw  Billings 

valuable  assistance  towards  the  collection  and  preservation  of 
medical  literature  and  the  formation  of  large  public  libraries. 

As  an  indication  of  the  increase  in  number  of  medical 
libraries,  public  and  private,  he  says  that  "if  the  entire 
medical  literature  of  the  world,  with  the  exception  of  that 
which  is  collected  in  the  United  States,  were  to  be  now 
destroyed,  nearly  all  of  it  that  is  valuable  could  be  re- 
produced without  difficulty."  Yet,  in  spite  of  the 
astounding  increase  in  medical  literature,  he  holds  that 
the  rate  of  increase  is  becoming  smaller,  that  it  will  re- 
main constant  in  Western  Europe,  but  will  increase  in 
America,  Russia,  and  Southern  Asia.  The  amount  of 
"effete  and  worthless  material"  in  medical  literature  is 
constantly  increasing,  although  everything  of  value  in  the 
modern  period  can  be  found  in  the  publications  of  the  last 
twenty  years.  For  this  reason,  the  busy  practitioner  need 
only  dip  into  the  greater  classics,  since  the  net  result  of 
their  contents  has  also  been  absorbed  in  the  text -books. 
"If,  perchance,  among  the  dusty  folios  there  are  stray  gol- 
den grains  yet  ungleaned,  remember  that  just  in  front  are 
whole  fields  waiting  the  reaper. "  Hence  it  is  cheaper  and 
more  expedient  to  have  bibliographical  work  done  than 
to  do  it,  yet  it  is  an  essential  part  of  the  working  physi- 
cian's equipment  to  know  how  it  should  be  done: 

Upon  the  title-page  of  the  Washington  City  Directory  is 
printed  the  following  aphorism,  "To  find  a  name  you  must 
know  how  to  spell  it. "  This  has  a  very  extensive  application 
in  medical  bibliography.  To  find  accounts  of  cases  similar  to 
your  own  rare  case  you  must  know  what  your  own  case  is. 

The  Index  Catalogue  gives,  he  says,  most  of  the  refer- 
ences of  special  value,  and  if  these  cannot  be  found  in 
some  large  collection  other  than  the  Washington  library 
and  if  they  are  not  specially  featured  in  the  best  works  on  a 


Surgeon-General's  Library  and  Catalogue  237 

given  subject,  he  offers  the  shrewd  advice  that  it  is  safe 
to  ignore  them  as  mediocre  and  negligible.  In  this  way, 
the  student  will  not  be  "wasting  his  time  and  energy  in 
turning  over  chaff  which  has  long  ago  been  pretty  thor- 
oughly threshed  and  winnowed. "  Hence,  in  English  and 
American  schools,  the  history  of  medicine  would  best  be 
cultivated  as  a  means  of  teaching  students  how  to  think 
and  how  to  use  the  tools  of  their  profession : 

For  books  are  properly  compared  to  tools  of  which  the  index 
is  the  handle.  Such  instruction  should  be  given  in  a  library 
just  as  chemistry  should  be  taught  in  a  laboratory.  The  way 
to  learn  history  and  bibliography  is  to  make  them — the  best 
work  of  the  instructor  is  to  show  his  students  how  to  make 
them. 

Again,  "all  is  not  bibliography  which  pretends  to  be 
such": 

Very  many  of  the  exhaustive  and  exhausting  lists  of  refer- 
ences which  are  now  so  common  in  medical  journal  articles  have 
been  taken  largely  at  second  hand,  and  thereby  originate  or 
perpetuate  errors.  It  is  well  to  avoid  false  pride  in  this  matter. 
To  overlook  a  reference  is  by  no  means  discreditable, — but  a 
wrong  reference,  or  an  unwitting  reference  to  the  same  thing 
twice,  gives  a  strong  presumption  of  carelessness  and  second- 
hand work.  Journal  articles,  however,  and  especially  reports 
of  cases,  undergo  strange  transmogrifications  sometimes,  and 
I  have  watched  this  with  interest  in  the  case  of  a  French  or 
German  paper,  translated  and  condensed  in  the  London 
Record,  then  appearing  in  abstract  under  the  name  of  the 
translator  in  a  leading  journal,  then  translated  again,  with  a 
few  new  circumstances,  in  a  continental  periodical,  and  finally 
perhaps  reversed  and  appearing  as  an  original  contribution  in 
the  pages  of  the  Little  Peddlington  Medical  Universe. 

Hence  medical  bibliography,  as  Helmholtz  said,  "hardly 
deserves  the  name  of  science,  since  it  neither  enables  us  to 


238  JoKn  SHa*w   Billings 

see  the  complete  connection  nor  to  predict  the  result  under 
new  conditions  yet  untried."  The  practitioner  will  be 
mainly  concerned  with  what  Dr.  Holmes  calls  "the  live 
literature  of  his  profession,"  yet  even  here  scientific 
medicine  differs  from  the  exact  sciences  in  that  its  records 
are  frequently  defective: 

This  defect  in  the  records  is  largely  due — first,  to  ignorance 
on  the  part  of  observers ;  second,  to  the  want  of  proper  means 
for  precisely  recording  the  phenomena;  and  third,  to  the  con- 
fused and  faulty  condition  of  our  nomenclature  and  nosologi- 
cal  classification. 

The  first  and  main  difficulty  is  that  many  observers 
cannot  accurately  describe  what  is  directly  in  front  of 
them: 

Just  as  it  took  thousands  of  years  to  produce  a  man  who 
could  see  what  now  any  one  can  see  when  shown  him,  that  the 
star  Alpha  in  Capricorn  is  really  two  separate  stars,  so  we  had 
to  wait  long  before  the  man  came  who  could  see  the  difference 
between  measles  and  scarlatina,  and  still  longer  for  the  one 
who  could  distinguish  between  typhus  and  typhoid.  Said 
Plato,  "  He  shall  be  as  a  god  to  me,  who  can  rightly  divide  and 
define."  Men  who  have  this  faculty — the  "Blick"  of  the 
Germans — we  cannot  produce  directly  by  any  system  of  edu- 
cation; they  come  we  know  not  when  or  why,  "forming  a  small 
band,  a  mere  understanding  of  whose  thoughts  and  works  is  a 
test  of  our  highest  powers.  A  single  English  dramatist,  and 
a  single  English  mathematician  have  probably  equalled  in 
scope  and  excellence  of  original  work  in  their  several  fields  all 
the  like  labours  of  their  countrymen  put  together. " 

The  second  difficulty — lack  of  proper  instruments  of 
precision  for  recording  the  minutiae  of  clinical  phenomena 
— was  already  becoming  negligible  at  the  time  of  Billings's 
address,  and  although  he  says  it  behooves  us  to  be  modest 


Surgeon-General's  Library  and  Catalogue  239 

in  this  regard,  he  indulges  in  a  singularly  lucky  prediction 
as  to  the  possibility  of  obtaining  telegrams  and  phono- 
grams from  the  heart,  which  was  made  accomplished  fact 
by  Waller,  Einthoven,  and  others  about  1889-1903 : 

The  word-pictures  of  disease  traced  by  Hippocrates  and 
Sydenham,  or  even  those  of  Graves  and  Trousseau,  interesting 
and  valuable  as  they  are,  are  not  comparable  with  the  records 
upon  which  the  skilled  clinical  teacher  of  the  present  day  relies. 
Yet  how  imperfect  in  many  cases  are  even  the  best  of  these 
records  as  compared  with  what  might  be  given  with  the  re- 
sources which  we  have  at  our  command.  The  temperature 
chart  has  done  away  with  the  errors  which  necessarily  follow 
attempts  to  compare  the  memory  of  sensations  perceived  last 
week  with  the  sensations  of  to-day — and  the  balance  and  the 
burette  enable  us  to  estimate  with  some  approach  to  precision 
the  tissue  changes  of  our  patients  by  the  records  of  change  in 
the  excretions  which  they  furnish;  but  we  must  still  trust  to  our 
memory,  or  to  the  imperfect  descriptions  of  what  others  re- 
member, when  we  attempt  to  compare  the  results  obtained  on 
successive  days  by  auscultation  or  percussion,  although  the 
phonograph  and  microphone  strongly  hint  to  us  the  possibility 
of  either  accurately  reproducing  the  sounds  of  yesterday,  or  of 
translating  them  into  visible  signs,  perhaps  something  like  the 
dot  and  dash  record  of  the  telegraph  code,  which  could  then 
be  given  to  the  press,  and  so  compared  with  each  other  by 
readers  at  the  Antipodes. 

As  to  the  third  difficulty,  confused  and  defective  ter- 
minology, Billings,  the  experienced  librarian  and  biblio- 
grapher, is  in  his  proper  element : 

"Science"  [said  Condillac,]  "is  a  language  well  made,"  and 
though  this  is  far  from  being  the  whole  truth,  it  is  an  important 
part  of  it.  In  examining  medical  reports  and  statistics,  it  is 
necessary  to  bear  constantly  in  mind  that  to  understand  many 
terms  you  must  know  what  the  individual  writer  means  by 
them.  When,  for  example,  we  find  in  such  statistics  a  certain 


240  JoHn  SHaw   Billings 

number  of  deaths  attributed  to  gastro-enteritis,  or  croup,  or 
scrofula,  we  have  to  take  into  account  the  country,  the  period 
and  the  individual  author  in  order  to  get  even  a  fair  presump- 
tion as  to  what  is  meant. 

The  editors  of  transactions  of  societies,  whether  these  are 
sent  to  journals,  or  published  in  separate  form,  often  commit 
numerous  sins  of  omission  in  the  matter  of  titles.  The  rule 
should  be  that  every  article  which  is  worth  printing  is  worth  a 
distinct  title,  which  should  be  as  concise  as  a  telegram,  and  be 
printed  in  a  special  type.  If  the  author  does  not  furnish  such  a 
title  it  is  the  editor's  business  to  make  it,  and  he  should  not  be 
satisfied  with  such  headings  as  "Clinical  Cases,"  "Difficult 
Labour,"  "A  Remarkable  Tumour,"  "Case  of  Wound,  with 
Remarks. "  The  four  rules  for  the  preparation  of  an  article  for 
a  journal  will  then  be:  I.  Have  something  to  say;  2.  Say 
it;  3.  Stop  as  soon  as  you  have  said  it ;  4.  Give  the  paper 
a  proper  title. 

In  every  country  there  are  writers  and  speakers  whose  state- 
ments are  received  with  very  great  distrust  by  those  best 
acquainted  with  them.  Supposing  these  statements  to  be  true, 
the  papers  would  be  of  much  interest  and  importance ;  but  the 
editor  should  remember  that  a  certain  number  of  readers,  and 
especially  those  in  foreign  countries,  have  no  clue  to  the  charac- 
ter of  the  author,  beyond  the  fact  that  they  find  his  works  in 
good  company.  In  medical  literature,  as  in  other  departments, 
we  find  books  and  papers  from  men  who  are  either  constitu- 
tionally incapable  of  telling  the  simple  literal  truth  as  to  their 
observations  and  experiments,  although  they  may  not  write 
with  fixed  intention  to  deceive,  or  from  men  who  seek  to  ad- 
vertise themselves  by  deliberate  falsehoods  as  to  the  results  of 
their  practice.  Such  men  are  usually  appreciated  at  their  true 
value  in  their  immediate  neighbourhood,  and  find  it  necessary 
.to  send  their  communications  to  distant  journals  and  societies 
in  order  to  secure  publication. 

I  presume  that  you  are  all  familiar  with  the  peculiar  feeling 
of  distrust  which  is  roused  by  too  complete  an  explanation. 
The  report  of  a  case  in  which  every  symptom  observed,  and  the 
effect  of  every  remedy  given  is  fully  accounted  for,  and  in 


Surgeon-General's  Library  and  Catalogue  241 

which  no  residual  unexplained  phenomena  appear,  is  usually 
suspicious,  for  it  implies  either  superficial  observation,  or  sup- 
pression, or  distortion  of  some  of  the  facts.  A  diagrammatic 
representation  is  usually  much  plainer  than  a  good  photo- 
graph, but  also  of  much  less  value  as  a  basis  for  further  work. 

In  days  of  old,  when  the  profession  of  medicine,  or  of  a  single 
medical  specialty  was  an  inheritance  in  certain  families,  a  large 
part  of  their  knowledge,  and  the  efficiency  of  their  remedies  was 
thought  to  depend  upon  these  being  kept  a  profound  mystery. 
Among  the  precepts  of  magic  there  was  no  more  significant  one 
than  that  which  declared  that  the  communication  of  the  for- 
mula destroyed  its  power,  and  that  hence  attempts  to  reveal 
the  secret  must  always  fail.  We  have  changed  all  that.  Every 
physician  hastens  to  publish  his  discoveries  and  special  know- 
ledge, and  a  good  many  do  the  same  by  that  which  is  not 
special,  or  which  is  not  knowledge.  For  the  individual,  in  a 
degree — for  the  nation  or  the  race  in  a  much  greater  degree — 
the  literature  produced  is  the  most  enduring  memorial. 

And  thus  in  our  great  medical  libraries  each  of  the  folios  or 
quaint  little  black-letter  pamphlets  which  mark  the  first  two 
centuries  of  printing,  or  of  the  cheap  and  dirty  volumes  of  more 
modern  days  with  their  scrofulous  paper  and  abominable  typo- 
graphy, represents  to  a  great  extent  the  life  of  one  of  our 
profession  and  the  fruit  of  his  labours,  and  it  is  by  the  fruits 
that  we  know  him. 

At  the  conclusion  of  this  address,  the  best  that  Billings 
ever  made,  Sir  James  Paget  spoke  as  follows: 

I  am  sure  I  should  express  the  feelings  of  you  all,  if  I  were  to 
say  that  if  this  single  paper  were  the  sole  production  of  the 
Congress  it  was  worth  coming  here  to  meet  that  it  might  be 
produced.  We  have  all  known  Dr.  Billings  as  a  great  leading 
bibliophilist,  but  I  believe  there  have  been  very  few  who  have 
known  heretofore  that  he  does  in  person  absolutely  belie  the 
ordinary  character  given  of  the  bibliophilist ;  which  usually  is, 
first,  that  such  a  man  is  a  lover  of  books;  then,  that  he  is  not  a 
man  of  science;  then,  not  a  man  of  practical  good  sense;  then, 

16 


242  JoHn   SHa-w  Billings 

not  a  man  of  wit.  It  would  be  very  happy  if  upon  some  future 
day  we  could  hear  the  whole  subject  of  bibliography  treated 
in  so  admirable  a  scientific  spirit ;  not  as  indicating  in  books  the 
places  in  which  to  find  printed  knowledge,  but  to  show  how, 
out  of  books,  the  contemporary  history  of  man  himself  might 
be  studied.  I  can  feel  that,  at  the  time  when  I  lived  by  my 
pen,  my  income  might  have  been  many  times  larger  than  it  was 
if  I  had  had  the  good  guidance  of  Dr.  Billings,  to  know  how,  and 
when,  and  in  what  method,  to  work  at  books.  All  may  now 
learn  from  him,  and  may  see,  besides,  how  much  real  learning 
may  be  advanced  by  the  exercise  of  common  sense  on  all 
matters  of  bibliography  and  medical  science;  and  how  much 
even  learning  may  be  graced  by  the  flowing  humour,  the  true 
good  sense,  with  which  he  has  made  every  word  to  sparkle.  I 
propose  that  we  once  more  give  hearty  thanks  to  Dr.  Billings 
for  his  address. 

At  the  Congress  at  which  this  address  was  delivered,  Dr. 
Billings  participated  also  in  the  sections  on  state  medicine 
and  on  military  medicine.  In  the  former,  he  read  a  paper 
on  "The  Experience  of  the  United  States  in  Recent  Years 
with  Regard  to  Asiatic  Cholera  and  Yellow  Fever."  In 
this,  he  describes  the  methods  then  employed  in  quarantin- 
ing these  diseases,  and  contrasts  the  view  of  La  Roche 
(accepted  by  the  National  Quarantine  Conventions  of 
1859  and  1860)  that  yellow  fever  epidemics  are  of  local 
origin,  not  spread  by  the  sick  and  not  preventable  by 
quarantine,  with  the  conclusions  adopted  in  1878  that 
"the  cause  of  yellow  fever  is  specific,  particulate,  and 
endowed  with  the  vital  properties  of  growth  and  reproduc- 
tion .  .  .  that  yellow  fever  patients  are  the  most  frequent 
cause  of  the  spread  of  the  disease,"  even  though  some 
victims  may  not  transmit  yellow  fever.  A  few  sentences 
lower,  he  says:  "Yellow  fever  is  not  inoculable  nor  per- 
sonally contagious,  but  is  portable  and  communicable;  .  .  . 
in  Havana,  it  is  not  the  soldiers  but  the  sailors  who  suffer 


Surgeon-General's  Library  and  Catalogue  243 

most."  After  discussing  the  question  of  immunity,  he 
gives  a  full  account  of  American  experiences  with  quaran- 
tine and  a  searching  criticism  of  the  conclusions  reached 
by  the  International  Sanitary  Conference  at  Washington 
in  January,  1881.  In  discussing  Dr.  Acland's  paper  on 
international  recognition  of  medical  diplomas,  Dr.  Billings 
said  that  the  United  States  could  never  become  a  party 
to  such  international  agreements,  because  each  of  the 
several  States  had  its  own  regulations  for  admission  to 
the  right  to  practise,  some  States  had  no  such  regulations, 
and,  in  any  case,  no  individual  State  has  the  right  to  make 
a  treaty  with  a  foreign  country.  Reciprocity  would  there- 
fore have  very  little  to  do  with  the  matter.  Diplomas 
recognized  by  the  English  state  authorities  might  be 
accepted  in  the  United  States  without  making  it  incumbent 
upon  England  to  recognize  American  diplomas  acceptable 
in  certain  States  of  the  Union  though  not  in  others.  The 
question  of  registration  of  physicians  in  the  United  States 
would  be  bound  up  with  the  matter  of  registration  of 
deaths.  In  these,  the  specific  cause  of  death  should  be  in 
each  case  assigned  by  a  physician,  yet  there  was  no  con- 
sensus of  opinion  as  to  what  persons  should  be  defined  and 
recognized  as  physicians.  He  illustrates  this  sad  lack  of 
uniformity  by  pointing  out  that  the  necessary  criteria 
were  established  in  Illinois  by  the  State  Board  of  Health, 
in  Alabama  by  the  State  Medical  Society  which  also  acted 
as  the  State  Board  of  Health. 

In  the  section  on  military  medicine,  Sir  Thomas  Long- 
more  paid  a  very  touching  and  graceful  tribute  to  the 
memory  of  one  of  Dr.  Billings's  associates  in  war  and 
official  life,  Surgeon  George  A.  Otis,  United  States  Army, 
to  which  Billings  replied  in  fitting  terms.  At  the  conclu- 
sion of  the  Congress,  he  proposed  a  general  vote  of  thanks 
to  the  Secretary-General,  Sir  William  Macormac,  in  which 
parting  speech  he  said : 


244  JoKn  SHaw   Billings 

I  was  asked  this  morning  what  were  my  impressions  as  to 
the  permanent  good  result  which  would  be  attained  by  this 
Congress,  and  to  that  I  answered  substantially  this:  Our 
perceptions  of  these  results  are  at  present  dim  and  confused. 
It  is  like  the  impressions  received  by  those  who  have  been 
whirled  through  the  green  fields  and  busy  towns  of  old  England 
and  "Mother  England " — in  some  of  the  fifty  or  sixty  miles  an 
hour  express  trains  which  pass  through  this  country;  and  the 
fields,  the  fences,  and  the  milestones  are  at  present  a  little 
blended  together.  But  they  will  come  out  in  our  memories; 
all  the  meetings  in  sections,  the  meetings  in  this  great  hall,  the 
friendly  and  social  meetings,  the  little  groups  of  twos  or  threes 
or  fives  all  over  this  great  city,  will  recur  to  us,  and  they  will 
come  out  like  the  figures  in  the  sensitive  plate  which  has  been 
exposed  to  the  light,  upon  which  the  developing  solution  is 
poured;  and  as  we  pass  to  our  several  homes,  whether  it  be  in 
this  island,  or  across  the  turbulent  channel,  or  over  the  rolling 
billows  of  the  Atlantic, — all  the  scenes  of  this  week,  and  the 
talks  which  at  present  are  so  confused  and  so  dim,  and  so  run 
together  that  we  are  hardly  prepared  to  say  what  we  have 
seen,  or  what  we  have  done  or  where  we  have  been — all  will 
come  out,  and  become  distinct  permanent  pictures.  Much  of 
the  pleasure  of  these  pictures  will  be  due  to  a  single  man,  and 
it  has  been  said,  over  and  over  again,  to  this  Congress,  and  to 
the  sections  of  it,  how  much  its  success  has  depended  upon  the 
efforts  of  this  man — the  man  who  has  been,  as  it  were,  the 
mainspring  inside  the  complicated  machinery,  which  has  been 
set  at  work,  and  kept  in  order,  and  kept  beating  regularly  up 
to  time,  to  produce  the  results  which  you  have  all  seen ;  and 
for  which,  I  am  sure,  we  are  all  grateful.1 

The  Congress  over,  Billings  proceeded,  via  Leipzig  and 
Berlin  to  St.  Petersburg  and  Moscow,  after  which  he 
returned  to  Germany  over  the  Scandinavian  peninsula, 
visiting  Helsingfors,  Stockholm,  Copenhagen,  and  Kiel, 

1  Tr.  Internal.  Med.  Cong.,  London,  1881,  i.,  104-105.  Dr.  Billings  did, 
in  fact,  give  his  personal  impressions  of  the  London  Congress  in  the  Inter' 
national  Review  (January,  1882). 


Surgeon-General's  Library  and  Catalogue  245 

passing  southward  through  Austria  to  Milan  and  spending 
some  time  in  England  before  his  return  to  the  United 
States.  The  results  of  this  extended  tour  appear  in  his 
valuable  "Notes  on  Military  Medicine  in  Europe."1 
A  few  excerpts  from  his  letters  follow : 

August  18,  1881.  Berlin,  9  P.M.  I  am  writing  this  in  one 
corner  of  a  huge  concert  hall  called  the  "Berlin  Flora"  in 
which  about  500  men  and  women  are  all  sitting  around  little 
tables,  drinking  beer  and  listening  to  what  are  supposed  to  be 
comic  singers,  who  pop  on  and  off  a  little  stage  on  one  side 
like  so  many  jacks-in-the-box.  After  about  fifteen  minutes' 
consideration,  I  have  failed  to  see  any  special  fun  in  it,  and 
having  a  sheet  of  paper  and  my  stylographic  pen  in  my  pocket 
will  begin  a  note  to  you,  to  be  finished  probably  to-morrow 
morning,  before  that  feeble  apology  for  and  semblance  of  a 
meal  which  these  benighted  people  call  breakfast. 

August  25.  St.  Petersburg.  Arrived  here  at  6  P.M.  to-day 
rather  tired  and  used  up  by  my  forty-three  hours'  ride.  A 
warm  bath,  a  small  dinner  and  a  cup  of  delicious  tea  have, 
however,  set  me  up  again.  I  can't  very  well  go  anywhere  this 
evening,  for  my  passport  has  gone  to  be  registered  at  the 
central  police  office,  and  until  I  get  it  back,  which  will  not  be 
before  to-morrow,  it  would  not  be  judicious  for  me  to  be 
wandering  about.  ...  So  I  read  a  poor  novel  and  thought 
about  home.  ...  It  is  an  odd  sensation  to  be  in  a  place 
where  one  can  neither  speak  nor  read  the  language,  where  the 
names  of  the  streets,  the  bill  of  fare  at  the  hotel,  the  news- 
papers, everything  is  in  an  unknown  tongue.  •  I  have  been 
talking  German  in  a  hit  or  miss  sort  of  way  until  I  find  I  can 
make  myself  understood  after  a  fashion,  and  it  is  very  for- 
tunate that  it  is  so,  for  I  have  got  to  rely  almost  entirely  upon 
German  while  I  am  here.  I  was  met  at  the  depot  here  by  a 
medical  officer  of  the  Russian  army,  Dr.  Weljaminow,  who 
had  been  written  to  by  his  Medical  Director,  Dr.  Reyher, 

1  Jour.  Mil.  Service  Inst.,  Governor's  Island,  N.  Y.  H.,i882,  iii.,  234-247. 


246  JoKn  SKa-w  Billings 

whom  I  met  in  London.  Dr.  Wei j ammo w  has  orders  to  show  me 
around  and  as  he  speaks  only  German  and  Russian,  you  see 
that  "  Ich  muss  Deutsch  sprechen, "  or  not  speak  at  all.  He  is  to 
meet  me  here  to-morrow  and  take  me  to  the  medical  libraries 
and  hospitals. 

August  27,  3  P.M.  All  day  yesterday,  and  also  this  forenoon, 
I  have  been  going  from  one  hospital  and  medical  library  or 
school  to  another,  until  I  am  pretty  tired.  Last  night  I  went 
into  a  Russian  theatre  for  a  little  while  to  hear  some  Russian 
and  gypsy  songs  by  a  troupe  who  make  them  a  specialty.  I 
now  think  I  shall  go  to  Moscow  on  the  evening  of  the  29th, 
return  here  on  the  3ist,  and  go  from  here  to  Konigsberg, 
Hamburg  and  Kiel.  The  weather  has  been  unfavourable  since 
I  have  been  here,  rainy  and  chilly,  but  there  is  abundant  vege- 
tation and  I  saw  some  very  fine  oak  trees  yesterday  in  a  drive 
upon  what  are  called  the  Islands. 

September  4.  Stockholm.  6  P.M.  All  right.  Out  of 
Russia  and  glad  to  be  out. 

September  8,  Dresden.  I  have  had  a  rather  rough  and  not 
overly  comfortable  trip  through  Russia  and  Sweden,  and  am 
glad  to  have  it  done.  It  was,  however,  very  interesting  and  I 
have  learned  a  good  deal.  I  have  a  large  and  important  pack- 
age of  proof  from  the  Census  Office,  and  must  go  to  work  on 
them. 

September  18.  Munich.  This  forenoon  I  have  taken  a  five 
mile  walk  about  the  city,  and  have  also  been  in  the  National 
Museum,  which  is  the  finest  collection  of  bric-a-brac  in  the 
world,  I  suppose.  .  .  .  Munich  is  full  of  art  of  all  kinds,  and  it 
is  the  worst  smelling  city  I  have  yet  been  in.  The  collections 
of  modern  pictures  by  Munich  artists  pleased  me  most,  and 
if  I  had  fifty  thousand  dollars  to  spare,  I  could  get  enough  of 
such  pictures  as  I  like  to  furnish  our  house  very  well  indeed. 
.  .  .  Since  writing  the  above,  I  have  taken  a  little  stroll  and 
examined  what  is  called  the  Kaulbach  Museum,  being  the 
sketches  and  unfinished  pictures  left  by  that  celebrated  artist. 


Surgeon-General's  Library  and  Catalogue  247 

It  was  extremely  interesting,  but  made  me  feel  rather  sad. 
He  must  have  been  an  unhappy  man,  certainly  with  his  pencil 
he  was  a  savagely  sarcastic  one. 

Grand  Hdtel  de  New  York,  Florence,  Italy,  September  21, 
1881.  I  arrived  here  from  Bologna  at  8:20  P.M.,  had  a  cup  of 
tea  and  then  took  a  walk  of  about  two  miles  through  a  wilder- 
ness of  narrow  crooked  streets,  having  no  idea  of  where  I  was 
going  and  caring  very  little  about  it. 

Hdtel  d'Isotta,  Genoa,  September  24,  1881.  I  have  just 
had  breakfast  consisting  of  coffee  and  a  small  omelette.  Butter 
not  eatable  but  supply  of  toothpicks  unlimited  and  dining- 
room  well  frescoed.  Had  a  lovely  ride  yesterday  along  the 
shore  of  the  Mediterranean  from  Pisa  to  this  place.  The 
Apennines  come  close  to  the  sea  and  about  half  the  way  the 
road  is  tunnelled  through  the  spurs  of  the  mountain  chains.  I 
saw  the  people  literally  sitting  in  the  shade  of  their  vines  and 
fig  trees,  and  I  understand  now  Ruskin's  phrase  of  "the  bars  of 
the  cypress."  ...  In  some  respects,  this  city  is  stranger 
than  any  I  have  yet  been  in.  The  greater  number  of  the  streets 
are  mere  passages  about  6  feet  wide,  and  as  the  houses  are  very 
high,  these  passages  are  dark  and  cool,  and  on  such  a  day  as 
this,  with  a  blazing  sun,  are  very  agreeable  to  stroll  through. 
The  most  characteristic  locality  is  perhaps  the  wharves,  where 
a  motley  crowd  of  all  nations  are  gathered.  I  got  the  London 
Times  this  morning  containing  an  account  of  the  President's 
death. 

About  this  time,  honours  of  various  kinds  began  to 
crowd  in  upon  Dr.  Billings  thick  and  fast.  Prior  to  1882, 
he  had  been  made  a  member  of  the  Academy  of  Natural 
Sciences  of  Philadelphia  (1862),  the  Philosophical  Society 
of  Washington  (1871),  the  American  Medical  Association 
(1880),  the  American  Public  Health  Association  (1880), 
and  honorary  member  of  the  medical  societies  of  the 
County  of  New  York  (1879)  and  the  State  of  New  York 


248  JoKn  SHaw   Billings 

(1880),  the  Medical  and  Chirurgical  Faculty  of  Maryland 
(1880),  the  Medical  Society  of  London  (1881),  the 
Clinical  Society  of  London  (1881),  and  the  Society  of  Medi- 
cal Officers  of  Health,  London  (1881).  After  this  date,  his 
name  was  enrolled  in  the  membership  of  a  great  many 
other  scientific  bodies,  in  particular  the  National  Acad- 
emy of  Sciences  (1883),  the  American  Association  for  the 
Advancement  of  Science  (1883),  the  College  of  Physicians 
of  Philadelphia  (1883),  the  Statistical  Society  of  London 
(1883),  the  American  Statistical  Association  (1884),  the 
American  Surgical  Association  (1885),  and  the  American 
Philosophical  Society  (1887),  not  to  mention  many  Euro- 
pean and  American  societies  thereafter.  In  a  letter  of 
June  6,  1883,  the  trustees  of  the  Johns  Hopkins  University 
offered  him  the  professorship  of  hygiene  in  the  medical 
department,  which  he  declined  because  it  was  not  possible 
for  him  to  hold  the  position  and  continue  his  duties  as  an 
army  officer.  In  February,  1884,  the  Senatus  Academicus 
of  the  University  of  Edinburgh  invited  him  to  receive  the 
honorary  degree  of  Doctor  of  Laws,  at  the  festival  of  the 
tercentenary  of  the  foundation  of  the  University  on  April 
17,  1884.  About  the  beginning  of  April,  we  find  him 
sailing  for  Liverpool  again,  in  company  with  Dr.  Fordyce 
Barker  and  his  son,  to  both  of  whom  he  was  warmly 
attached.  Arriving  at  Liverpool  on  Sunday,  April  I3th, 
he  found  a  letter  from  the  Lord  Provost  of  Edinburgh, 
inviting  him  to  be  his  guest  for  the  week,  and  he  proceeded 
to  the  University  the  following  day.  The  occasion  was  a 
great  one,  crowded  with  festivities  and  festal  dinners, 
luncheons,  concerts,  processionals,  sermons,  and  receptions. 
Among  those  receiving  honorary  degrees  were  the  poets 
Browning  and  Lowell,  the  Master  of  Balliol  (Professor 
Jowett),  Freeman,  the  historian,  Sir  Frederick  Leighton, 
Pasteur,  the  mathematicians  Cayley,  Sylvester,  with 
Helmholtz  and  Lord  Rayleigh  among  mathematical 


Surgeon-General's  Library  and  Catalogue  249 

physicists,  the  chemists  Bunsen  and  Chevreul,  Geikie  the 
geologist,  and,  among  medical  men,  Virchow,  Henle,  Hyrtl, 
Pettenkofer,  Sir  Andrew  Clark,  Sir  William  Gull,  Sir  Wil- 
liam Jenner,  the  elder  Gross  and  Fordyce  Barker.  Witty 
and  interesting  speeches  were  made  by  many  of  these 
worthies,  and,  in  proposing  to  the  toast  "  The  Architect," 
no  doubt  assigned  him  on  account  of  his  connection  with 
Johns  Hopkins  Hospital,  Dr.  Billings  made  the  following 
remarks. 

It  is  now  about  135  years  since  the  first  American  received 
his  degree  of  Doctor  of  Medicine  at  the  University  of  Edin- 
burgh, and  Dr.  John  Moultrie  returned  to  Charleston  to  fight 
the  yellow  fever  on  the  methods  and  principles  which  he  had 
here  acquired.  Sixteen  years  afterward,  four  or  five  graduates 
of  the  University  of  Edinburgh  became  the  first  medical 
faculty  in  America — the  faculty  of  the  University  of  Pennsyl- 
vania— which  adopted  the  organization  and  the  methods  of 
work  of  this  University,  their  Alma  Mater.  The  seed  thus 
sown  has  multiplied  exceedingly.  We  have  now  sixty  or 
seventy  medical  schools,  and  sixty  or  seventy  thousand  doctors 
with  diplomas.  Not  all  of  it,  perhaps,  is  good  fruit ;  some  of  the 
heads  may  be  chaff,  with  no  grain  (laughter).  As  the  repre- 
sentative of  the  University  of  Pennsylvania,  and  as  the  rep- 
resentative also  of  the  youngest  University  in  the  United 
States — and  being  specially  interested  in  the  subject  of  the 
methods  of  providing  for  modern  medical  teaching,  I  am  very 
glad  to  have  the  opportunity  of  proposing  the  toast  which  is 
set  down  opposite  my  name,  for  I  have  had  the  opportunity  of 
examining  the  buildings  which  have  been  constructed  for  the 
work  of  the  medical  departments  of  many  of  the  great  Uni- 
versities in  Europe  and  of  our  own  schools,  and  in  this  country 
also.  After  a  careful  examination  of  this  building,  I  am  pre- 
pared to  say  that,  taking  it  all  together,  it  is  the  best  planned 
and  best  arranged  medical  school  of  instruction  in  the  world 
(Applause.) T 

1  The  Weekly  Scotsman,  Edinburgh,  Saturday,  April  19, 1884,  p.  7. 


250  JoHn  SKa-w  Billings 

In  responding  to  this  toast,  Mr,  R.  Rowand  Anderson, 
the  architect  of  the  new  buildings  of  the  University  of 
Edinburgh,  gracefully  acknowledged  the  tribute  of  Dr. 
Billings  as  coming  from  one  competent  to  speak  with 
the  voice  of  authority. 

The  Edinburgh  festivities  over,  Billings  made  no  further 
visits  except  a  short  run  to  London,  but  returned  directly 
home  by  the  S.  S.  Bothnia,  arriving  in  New  York  on  April 
29,  1884. 

One  relic  of  his  brief  London  visit  survives,  a  letter 
from  the  late  Sir  Francis  Galton,  referring  to  the  instru- 
ment devised  by  Major  Washington  Matthews  (U.  S.  A.) 
and  Billings  for  making  composite  photographs  of  skulls 
which  was  described  in  two  memoirs  read  to  the  National 
Academy  of  Sciences  on  April  226.  and  November  12, 
1885: 

42  RUTLAND  GATE,  LONDON  S.  W., 

November  13,  1884. 

DEAR  SIR:  I  was  most  agreeably  surprised  by  receiving 
your  beautiful  skull  composites  yesterday  morning,  and  laid 
them  that  very  evening  before  the  Anthropological  Institute. 
The  negro  seems  extremely  good  and  testifies  to  the  great 
similarity  of  its  constituents,  just  as  the  European  skull  does 
to  their  diversity.  You  must  have  found  it  difficult,  as  I  did, 
to  arrange  so  that  they  should  be  superimposed  with  the  ut- 
most probable  justice.  The  difficulty  with  skulls  is  two-fold 
greater  than  with  faces — (i)  because  there  are  no  sharp  fiducial 
lines  equivalent  to  those  that  may  be  drawn  through  the  pupils 
of  the  eyes,  through  the  mouth,  and  vertically  (in  a  full  face) 
through  the  midway  point  between  the  two  pupils;  and  (2) 
because  the  part  of  interest  is  the  outside  rim  and  not  the 
inner  parts  so  that  any  misfit  is  the  more  conspicuous.  I 
fancy  it  might  lead  to  even  better  results  if,  after  fixing  each 
skull  successfully  in  place,  a  very  small  additional  adjustment 
were  made  to  bring  the  real  skull  in  the  most  exact  probable 


Surgeon-General's  Library  and  Catalogue  251 

accordance  with  a.  fiducial  image.  What  that  image  should 
be,  is  a  question  to  be  answered  best  by  the  operator,  accord- 
ing to  the  facilities  of  his  laboratory.  Our  plan  would  be  to 
outline  the  image  of  the  first  skull  on  the  focussing  glass  of  the 
camera  (the  ground  part  would  have  to  be  on  the  outside)  and 
adjusting  all  the  others  by  that.  The  plate  holder  would  have 
of  course  to  be  closed  and  withdrawn  after  each  exposure, 
but  in  a  well-made  camera,  and  with  a  tension  to  the  tight 
fit  of  the  plate  in  the  plate-holder  by  a  paper  wedge,  I 
don't  expect  any  sensible  error  would  result  from  their 
frequent  removal  and  replacement.  Another  plan  would 
be  to  photograph  through  an  oblique  plate  of  plane  and 
parallel  worked  glass  on  which  a  "Pepper's  ghost"  of  a 
fiducial  skull  could  at  will  be  thrown  by  a  strong  side  illumi- 
nation to  be  arranged  as  most  convenient.  I  always  found 
it  well  to  expend  a  great  deal  of  trouble  to  get  the  most 
profitable  adjustment  of  the  images. 

I  was  very  sorry  to  miss  the  pleasure  of  seeing  you  when  you 
were  in  town.  It  so  happened  that  the  first  day  that  I  heard 
of  your  address  was  that  on  which  you  were  to  leave.  It  would 
have  been  a  great  pleasure  to  me  to  have  shown  you  my  various 
instruments  in  various  states  of  completeness  and  gain  the 
advantage  of  your  suggestions  and  criticisms. 

While  conducting  the  gigantic  work  of  the  Index  Cata- 
logue, one  huge  volume  annually,  and  at  the  same  time 
looking  after  the  plans  of  the  Johns  Hopkins  Hospital, 
Billings  was  also  extremely  active  during  the  early  eighties 
and  after,  in  scientific  and  literary  work  of  the  most  varied 
character.  He  had  on  hand  the  Johns  Hopkins  Hospital, 
the  National  Board  of  Health,  the  Index  Medicus,  and  the 
vital  and  medical  statistics  of  the  tenth  census  (1880),  in 
aid  of  which  he  had  already  made  some  valuable  sugges- 
tions to  the  chairman  of  the  Congressional  Committee  in 
1878.  In  1883,  he  delivered  the  annual  address  to  the 
Medical  and  Chirargical  Faculty  of  Maryland,  his  subject 
being  "Medical  Bibliography,"  and  this  discourse  has 


252  JoHn.  SHaw  Billings 

the  same  wise  and  witty  flavour  as  the  London  address  of 
1 88 1,  to  which  it  forms  a  pendant.  In  1880,  he  began  to 
publish  in  the  Plumber  certain  "Letters  to  a  Young  Archi- 
tect,"  which  were  continued  in  the  Sanitary  Engineer 
(1880-81),  and  subsequently  appeared  enlarged  as  a 
volume  of  216  pages  entitled  The  Principles  of  Ventilation 
and  Heating  (1884).  His  introduction  to  Buck's  Treatise 
on  Hygiene  (Ziemssen's  Handbudi),  bearing  the  title 
"On  Causes  of  Disease  and  on  Jurisprudence  of  Hygiene" 
(1879),  was  the  germ  of  two  separate  monographs  on 
hygiene  which  he  published  in  Pepper's  Systems  of  Medi- 
cine in  1885  and  1893.  His  work  on  composite  photo- 
graphy of  skulls  was  carried  on,  with  Major  Washington 
Matthews  in  1884-85.  In  1886,  he  was  asked  to  deliver  the 
annual  address  in  medicine  before  the  British  Medical 
Association  at  Brighton,  England,  by  reason  of  the  sudden 
death  of  Dr.  Austin  Flint,  who  had  been  selected  in  the 
first  instance.  On  March  20,  1886,  Dr.  W.  Withers  Moore, 
the  president  elect  of  the  Association  wrote : 

We  feel  that  Dr.  Austin  Flint's  position  should  be  filled  by 
one  of  his  countrymen  and  by  no  one  more  fittingly  than  by 
Dr.  Billings.  I  therefore  wish  to  ask  you  to  take  up  the  mantle 
of  your  departed  friend  and  to  come  over  to  the  old  country 
not  merely  to  delight  us  with  your  oratory,  but  also  to  show 
that  you  warmly  reciprocate  our  brotherly  feeling. 

For  reasons  which  will  appear,  the  acceptance  of  this 
flattering  invitation  was  a  matter  of  some  delicacy,  and 
Dr.  Billings  referred  the  proposition  to  a  number  of  his 
medical  intimates,  all  of  whom  concurred  in  urging  him  to 
accept  the  honour  as  a  duty  to  his  profession.  He  accord- 
ingly set  sail  on  S.S.  Adriatic  on  July  8th,  in  company  with 
Drs.  Fordyce  Barker  and  James  R.  Chadwick,  arriving 
in  Liverpool  on  July  17. 


Surgeon-General's  Library  and  Catalogue  253 

TO    MRS.    BILLINGS 

Killerton,  Exeter,  August  I.  Here  I  am  spending  Sunday 
down  in  the  heart  of  Devon  at  the  country  seat  of  Sir  Thomas 
Acland,  one  of  the  most  beautiful  places  that  I  have  ever  seen 
in  my  life.  I  have  been  to  the  chapel  this  morning — the  family 
chapel,  that  is,  and  have  got  to  go  to  church  again  this  after- 
noon. Of  course  that  part  of  the  programme  is  not  specially 
to  my  taste,  especially  when  I  have  to  listen  to  such  a  very 
vealy  sermon  as  I  heard  this  morning,  but  everything  else  is 
perfection,  including  clouted  Devonshire  cream,  the  family 
portraits,  a  lovely  bit  of  sculpture  by  Chantrey,  magnificent 
views  in  every  direction,  an  avenue  of  beech  trees  which  look 
like  duchesses  and  countesses,  etc.  The  house  is  a  large 
rambling  mansion  at  the  edge  of  a  lovely  park  at  which  a  herd 
of  deer  appear  at  intervals.  Sir  Henry  Acland  is  here  and  I 
enclose  a  sprig  of  fern  which  he  sends  you. 

Brighton,  August  n.  I  have  just  three  minutes  before 
starting  for  a  dinner  to  tell  you  that  I  have  given  my  address 
and  that  it  was  most  enthusiastically  received.  The  uproar 
was  as  great  as  at  the  London  Congress  and  the  American 
doctors  here  are  in  a  state  of  high  jubilation. 

The  subject  of  Dr.  Billings's  address  (delivered  on 
August  nth)  was  "Medicine  in  the  United  States,  and 
its  Relations  to  Co-operative  Investigation."  As  this 
address  was  construed  as  matter  of  offence  in  some 
parts  of  the  United  States  and  had  to  do  with  a  certain 
contretemps  in  Billings's  career,  it  is  worth  while  to  give 
some  account  of  it.  After  a  dignified  reference  to  the  loss 
sustained  by  the  profession  in  the  death  of  Dr.  Austin 
Flint  he  refers  to  one  of  his  favourite  Scotch  maxims, 
"That  which  you  do  not  know,  tell  that  not  to  any  one, " 
as  determining  his  choice  of  a  subject,  in  fact  narrowing 
the  range  of  selection  to  "a  small  intercept  of  space  of  one 
dimension."  The  Congress  itself  implying  unity,  co- 


254  JoHn  SHaw  Billings 

operation,  and  solidarity  in  the  advancement  of  medicine, 
what  subject  could  be  more  appropriate  than  the  condi- 
tions and  future  prospect  of  medicine  in  the  United  States? 
This  settled,  Billings  proceeds  to  develop  at  length  the 
theme  which  forms  the  coda  of  his  survey  of  American 
medicine  in  1876. 

As  in  painting  a  picture,  it  is  best  to  locate  and  define  the 
shadows  first,  and  deal  with  the  lights  afterward,  let  us  begin 
by  considering  some  of  the  things  that  American  physicians 
complain  about ;  in  other  words,  some  of  their  supposed  griev- 
ances. One  of  these  is  that  the  profession  is  overcrowded; 
that  there  are  too  many  doctors,  both  in  esse  and  in  posse, 
and  that  this  is  due  to  too  low  a  standard  of  education,  and  to 
the  want  of  legal  restrictions  as  to  the  qualifications  which 
shall  give  a  man  the  right  to  practise.  The  feelings  of  some  of 
our  physicians  on  this  subject  are  in  full  accord  with  those  of 
the  good  old  New  England  deacon  who  told  the  village  scape- 
grace seeking  admission,  that,  "he  thought  the  church  was 
about  full." 

Statistics  gathered  in  1883  showed  that  there  were 
"90,410  persons  calling  themselves  physicians"  in  the 
United  States  and  Canada:  I  to  1112  of  population  in 
Canada,  I  to  589  in  the  United  States.  Furthermore, 
there  were  6.6  physicians  per  10,000  in  New  Mexico,  9.2 
in  South  Carolina,  9.7  in  North  Carolina,  as  against  29.3 
in  Colorado  or  25.2  in  Indiana.  "The  proportion  of 
physicians  is  generally  lowest  in  the  Southern  States 
lying  east  of  the  Mississippi,  and  highest  in  those  regions 
where  immigration  has  recently  been  active."  There  are 
more  lawyers  and  fewer  clergymen  in  the  United  States 
than  in  England,  or,  as  Billings  generalizes,  it  seems  that 
"where  the  lawyers  are  the  most  numerous  the  supply  of 
clergymen  is  smallest."  The  proportion  of  physicians  to 
population  is  about  I  to  1000  for  England  and  about  I  to 


Surgeon-General's  Library  and  Catalogue  255 

750  for  the  United  States.  "We  must  admit  then,"  he 
says,  "that  there  is  at  all  events  no  scarcity  of  physicians 
in  the  United  States."  As  to  the  next  question,  whether 
the  standard  of  education  is  too  low,  he  produces  a  shaded 
map  of  the  United  States,  showing  that  malarial  fever  is 
most  fatally  prevalent  in  the  Southern  States  in  the  valley 
of  the  Mississippi,  while  the  Gulf  States  are,  moreover, 
in  the  yellow  fever  zone.  From  this  he  reasons  as 
follows : 

As  compared  with  the  North  and  East,  much  of  this  malari- 
ous region  is  a  thinly  settled  country,  an  almost  purely  agri- 
cultural country,  and  not  a  rich  country.  I  need  hardly  tell 
you  that  the  physician  who  has  received  his  chief  clinical  in- 
struction in  the  office  of  his  preceptor  in  Vermont  or  New 
Hampshire,  supplemented  by  distant  glimpses  of  a  few  cases 
in  hospital  in  Boston  or  New  York,  will  find  himself  at  a  loss 
at  first  in  dealing  with  the  emergencies  of  daily  practice  in 
Arkansas  and  Mississippi.  He  will  be  subjected  to  influences 
which  at  times  are  dangerous  to  one  who  is  not  acclimated, 
and  which  tend  to  produce  depression  of  spirits,  want  of 
energy  and  bad  health.  He  will  not  have  free  and  constant 
access  to  scientific  companionship,  nor  be  stimulated  by  the 
influence  of  learned  societies,  and  he  cannot  avail  himself  of 
the  ordinary  sources  of  amusement,  education,  and  rest,  such 
as  art  galleries,  the  drama,  libraries,  and  museums,  etc.,  which 
are  found  in  the  large  cities.  Moreover,  the  pecuniary  reward 
which  the  practitioner  in  many  of  these  places  can  reasonably 
hope  for  is  comparatively  small. 

Taking  all  these  things  into  consideration,  it  is  clear  that  if 
a  man  after  spending  from  six  to  eight  years,  and  from  one  to 
two  thousand  pounds  in  acquiring  such  a  general  and  pro- 
fessional education  as  it  is  now  considered  that  a  skilled  physi- 
cian should  possess,  then  settles  in  such  a  region  with  the 
prospect  of  an  average  income  of  from  £150  to  £200  per  year, 
it  is  not  from  pecuniary  motives  alone.  There  are  such  men  in 
such  places,  men  who  are  not  only  highly  educated  and  skilled 


256  JoKn  SHaw  Billings 

practitioners  but  who  are  also  original  investigators  and 
thinkers.  It  was  within  the  limits  of  this  malarial  shadow  that 
the  foundation  of  modern  gynecology  was  laid  by  Marion 
Sims,  of  abdominal  surgery  by  McDowell,  Battey,  and  Gross, 
of  an  important  part  of  the  physiology  of  the  nervous  system 
by  Campbell.  Nevertheless  the  rule  holds  good  that  malaria 
and  science  are  antagonistic;  the  exceptions  prove  the  rule. 

This  proposition  stated,  he  points  out  that  neither 
"penal  nor  restrictive  legislation"  could  induce  highly 
educated  physicians  to  settle  in  thinly  settled  localities  and 
(his  favourite  argument)  that  any  fixed  standard  of  quali- 
fications for  practice  must  necessarily  be  so  low  as  to  be 
ridiculous.  On  the  other  hand,  American  schools  had 
hitherto  avoided  standards  too  high,  for  the  simple  reason 
that  few  could  pass  even  the  necessary  preliminary  ex- 
aminations, in  other  words,  such  schools  would  not  have 
the  material  to  work  with : 

The  proverb  that  it  does  not  pay  to  give  a  $5000  education 
to  a  $5  boy  is  clearly  of  American  origin,  and  sums  up  a  good 
deal  of  experience. 

You  have  nineteen  portals  of  entrance  to  the  profession  and 
have  not  found  it  easy  to  keep  them  all  up  to  the  standard. 
In  America  we  have  over  eighty  gates,  a  number  of  turnstiles 
and  a  good  deal  of  the  ground  is  unenclosed  common. 

The  result  of  this  condition  is  that  the  medical  profession 
in  America  includes  physicians  of  all  classes,  some  of  the 
highest  degree  of  education  and  competence,  who  make 
up  the  majority  of  writers  and  teachers  and  are  somewhat 
indifferent  to  medical  reforms,  because  quackery  does  not 
interfere  with  their  own  practice;  others  who  rely  more 
upon  experience  and  common  sense  than  upon  book  learn- 
ing and  whose  antagonism  to  quacks  varies  inversely  as  the 
degree  of  their  own  success,  younger  men  in  need  of  prac- 


Surgeon-General's  Library  and  Catalogue  257 

tice  being  more  naturally  indignant  about  charlatanry  and 
drug-store  prescribing;  and  a  few  honest  men  who  had 
given  up  practice  because  they  were  convinced  of  the 
inadequacy  of  their  knowledge  or  of  some  personal  lack 
of  aptitude  for  their  profession;  finally  the  great  army 
of  unlicensed  practitioners,  and  a  few  advertising  and 
travelling  quacks.  Yet  the  death-rate  of  the  United  States 
at  this  time  was  as  low  as  that  of  any  civilized  country 
except  Sweden.  "Almost  the  only  matter  in  which 
figures  seem  to  demonstrate  the  importance  of  superior 
medical  education  and  skill  is  in  the  statistics  of  deaths 
due  to  childbirth  and  of  the  results  of  surgical  operations." 
In  medical  practice,  successful  treatment  is  usually 
accounted  the  touchstone  of  merit,  and  Billings  was  too 
shrewd  an  observer  to  resume  the  maunderings  of  the 
New  Vienna  School,  which  declared  that  so  long  as  medi- 
cine is  an  art  it  will  not  be  a  science.  From  time  im- 
memorial, quacks  and  thaumaturgists  have  effected 
"cures"  where  science  has  failed,  and  until  the  American 
public  have  convinced  themselves  that  it  is  in  their  in- 
terests to  suppress  quackery,  "it  is  necessary  to  go  slowly 
and  allow  such  evidence  to  accumulate."  The  first  step 
in  the  direction  of  uniformity,  Billings  maintains,  would 
be  to  secure  a  proper  system  of  registration  of  deaths  in  all 
the  States,  which  should  lead  to  the  next  step,  viz., 
government  regulation  of  the  status  of  physicians  pre- 
suming to  make  such  certificates.  After  giving  a  thorough 
and  exhaustive  account  of  the  status  of  medical  legislation 
and  medical  institutions  in  the  United  States,  Billings 
shows  that  there  is  no  real  antagonism  between  the  practi- 
tioner and  the  sanitarian,  whose  aim  seems  to  be  to  do 
away  with  medical  practice.  The  former  will  always  have 
plenty  to  do.  To  illustrate  the  value  of  statistics  in  con- 
trolling the  diseases  most  dangerous  to  humanity,  he 
draws  upon  his  recent  experiences  with  the  tenth  census, 

17 


258  JoHn  SHa-w  Billings 

and  produces  a  series  of  shaded  maps  showing  that  cancer, 
scarlatina,  and  diphtheria  are  essentially  diseases  of  the 
Northern  States,  where  the  population  is  mostly  white; 
that  a  high  death-rate  from  cancer  indicates  a  healthy  and 
long-lived  population;  and  that  the  racial  incidence  of 
consumption  and  pneumonia  is  more  severe  among  the 
negroes  than  the  whites.  Racial  and  personal  equation  in 
disease  is  also  of  importance  to  the  practitioner : 

The  old  family  doctor  knows  that  when  a  particular  disease 
appears  in  his  neighbourhood,  he  may  expect  to  see  it  produce 
in  one  family  convulsions,  in  another  collapse,  and,  in  a  third, 
little  or  no  danger  or  inconvenience. 

I  have  spoken  to  little  purpose  [he  goes  on]  if  I  have  failed 
to  show  you  that  there  is  a  great  deal  of  human  nature  in 
American  physicians,  and  that  it  is  the  kind  of  human  nature 
with  which  you  are  tolerably  familiar.  .  .  .  While  we  must 
consider  the  difficulties  in  the  way  of  the  improvement  of  the 
science  and  art  of  medicine,  difficulties  due  to  ignorance,  to 
indolence,  to  conflict  of  interests,  and  to  the  eternal  fitness  of 
things,  the  existence  of  such  difficulties  is  not  a  matter  to  be 
bemoaned  and  lamented  over.  These  obstacles  are  the  spice 
of  life,  the  incentives  to  action,  the  source  of  some  of  the 
greatest  pleasures  which  it  is  given  to  man  to  experience.  .  .  . 
On  the  ethical  and  sociological  side,  the  matter  is  summed  up 
in  Ruskin's  aphorism,  that  "Fools  were  made  that  wise  men 
may  take  care  of  them! " 

We  are  in  a  period  of  the  world's  history  characterized  by 
material  prosperity,  by  increase  of  populations,  by  tendencies 
to  uniformity,  to  the  making  of  individuals  of  small  account. 
According  to  the  Swiss  philosopher,  Alphonse  de  Candolle, 
this  is  to  last  a  thousand  years  or  so,  after  which  the  pendulum 
will  swing  the  other  way,  and  there  will  follow  a  long  period  of 
diminution  and  separation  of  peoples,  and  of  decadence. 

Against  that  decay  of  nations  we  know  of  but  one  remedy, 


Surgeon-General's  Library  and  Catalogue  259 

and  that  is  increase  of  knowledge  and  of  wisdom.  And  this 
increase  must  be  in  our  knowledge,  in  the  world's  wisdom,  and 
not  merely  in  that  of  John,  or  Fritz,  or  Claude. 

Billings's  Brighton  address  excited  interest  everywhere 
and  was  widely  reprinted.  One  of  the  Viennese  medical 
journals  gave  a  graphic  full-length  account  of  the  personal 
appearance  and  mannerisms  of  "this  reformer  and  pioneer 
of  medical  science  in  A/nerica, "  his  tall  figure,  his  sturdy 
unrestrained  attitude,  the  head  thrown  back  somewhat 
and  slightly  inclined  to  the  left,  his  quick  gestures,  and  the 
remarkably  lively  movements  of  his  lips,  "making  a 
striking  contrast  with  the  metallic  composure  of  the 
English  speakers." 

After  a  short  introductory  address  by  the  President,  at 
eleven  o'clock  Billings  mounted  the  platform  in  the  midst  of 
profound  silence.  Long  before  the  meeting,  Billings's  address 
was  the  only  topic  of  conversation  in  certain  London  circles, 
so  that  all  who  were  at  the  Brighton  meeting  were  in  the 
" Dome"  and  listened  to  his  words  with  keen  interest. 

Yet  this  address,  great  as  were  its  merits,  was  to  become 
the  storm  centre  of  a  feeling  against  Billings  which  had 
been  growing  apace  among  certain  members  of  the  Ameri- 
can Medical  Association.  Apart  from  this,  his  strictures 
on  the  low  status  of  medicine  at  the  South  and  in  the 
Mississippi  Valley,  and  his  theorem  that  "malaria  and 
science  are  antagonistic, "  while  impersonal  and  meant  as  a 
joke,  had  the  air  of  being  an  expression  of  sectional 
prejudice.  One  Southern  editor  retorted  upon  Billings  by 
calling  attention  to  the  fact  that  the  city  of  Washington 
itself,  a  recognized  "scientific"  centre  of  the  country,  was 
located  in  the  then  malarial  "Potomac  Flats."  Billings 
coolly  clipped  out  this  paragraph  and  pasted  it  in  his  scrap- 
book  along  with  notices  of  a  more  complimentary  charac- 


260  JoHn  SHaw  Billings 

ter.  It  remains  to  set  forth  the  circumstances  leading  to 
the  outburst  of  professional  rancour  which  was  a  phase  of 
the  imbroglio  of  the  International  Medical  Congress  of 
1887. 

In  1884,  the  American  Medical  Association  selected 
eight  of  its  members,  Austin  Flint,  Billings,  Minis  Hays, 
Louis  A.  Sayre,  and  others  to  visit  the  International  Medi- 
cal Congress  at  Copenhagen  and  to  propose  that  the  next 
Congress  (1887)  should  be  held  in  the  United  States.  This 
invitation  was  accepted;  Washington,  D.  C.,  was  agreed 
upon  for  the  next  meeting,  and  the  committee,  which  the 
Copenhagen  Congress  adopted  as  its  own,  proceeded  to 
discharge  its  duties  in  accordance  with  instructions 
actually  received  from  the  Congress  itself.  This,  however, 
met  with  definite  opposition  at  the  hands  of  certain 
members  of  the  American  Medical  Association,  for  the 
reason  that  the  original  committee  of  eight  had  added  to 
its  number  thirty-four  other  members,  mostly  Eastern 
physicians  of  high  repute,  which  gave  umbrage  to  the 
South  and  West.  At  the  New  Orleans  meeting,  May  8, 
1884,  the  report  of  the  original  committee  was  repudiated, 
and  a  new  committee  of  thirty-eight  was  appointed,  made 
up  of  a  member  from  each  state  and  territory  plus  a  rep- 
resentative each  from  the  Army  and  Navy.  This  action 
was  followed  by  the  resignation  of  all  the  members  of  the 
original  committee,  with  the  exception  of  Flint.  At  a 
subsequent  meeting  in  Chicago  in  June,  the  new  committee 
appointed  by  the  American  Medical  Association  passed  a 
special  resolution  maintaining  that  only  those  who  sup- 
ported the  national  code  of  ethics  should  become  mem- 
bers of  the  Washington  Congress.  It  was  assumed  by 
many  that  Billings,  after  the  events  of  1885,  was  labour- 
ing to  prevent  the  Congress  from  being  a  success,  and  his 
somewhat  injudicious  utterances  about  the  South  at 
Brighton  added  fuel  to  the  flame.  His  own  position  is 


Surgeon-General's  Library  and  Catalogue  261 

strongly  stated  in  a  dignified  letter  which  he  wrote  to  a 
Southern  friend  at  the  time: 

I  resigned  as  quietly  as  I  could  and  since  then  I  have  taken 
no  part  in  the  controversy  but  have  attended  to  my  own  work 
which  is  more  than  sufficient  to  occupy  all  my  time  and 
thoughts.  I  have  not  asked  nor  advised  anyone  to  resign  or 
decline;  have  not  noticed  in  the  Index  Medicus  anything  that 
has  been  printed  by  either  side,  and  I  have  counselled  quiet 
and  keeping  out  of  print  to  all  who  have  asked  my  opinion.  I 
mention  this  because  I  was  told  last  week  to  my  surprise,  that 
many  persons  suppose  that  I  am  actively  opposing  the  present 
organization,  am  trying  to  prevent  the  Congress  from  meeting 
here,  am  hostile  to  the  American  Medical  Association,  etc., 
all  of  which  is  incorrect.  I  have  no  doubt  that  the  Congress 
will  meet  here  in  1887,  and  although  for  some  time  I  greatly 
feared  that  the  Executive  Committee  of  the  Copenhagen 
Congress  would  order  a  meeting  in  Berlin,  since  all  of  them 
were  indignant  at  what  has  occurred,  I  now  think  that  danger 
is  nearly  passed. 

My  own  feeling  about  the  matter  is  simply  this.  Certain 
prominent  men  in  New  York,  well  known  abroad  and  in 
previous  Congresses,  were  given  official  recognition  in  the 
first  organization,  not  because  they  requested  it,  for  they  did 
not,  but  because  we  thought  it  proper  to  do  so.  They  were 
then  thrown  out  in  a  very  unjust  and  insulting  way.  Some  of 
these  men  are  personal  friends;  others  I  know  but  slightly  or 
not  at  all,  but  I  could  not  accept  any  place  in  any  organization 
which  treats  such  men  as  Jacobi,  Weir,  Loring,  Knapp,  Loomis, 
Agnew,  etc.,  as  they  have  been  treated. 

If  the  present  Executive  Committee  will  settle  matters 
with  these  gentlemen  so  that  they  will  overlook  what  has 
passed  and  come  into  the  Congress,  I  have  no  grievance.  I 
have  no  personal  ill-feeling  whatever.  I  do  not  wish  to  hold 
any  official  position,  because  I  am  sure  that  to  do  so  will  in- 
jure the  work  in  which  I  am  engaged.  I  believe  the  Library 
and  Museum  interests  to  be  of  more  importance  to  the  pro- 
fession than  the  Congress,  which  last  will  be  forgotten  ten 


262  JoHn  SHaw  Billings 

years  from  now,  and  it  requires  every  moment  of  my  time  and 
all  my  energy  to  keep  the  Library  and  Museum  work  up.  I 
will  never  again  repeat  the  mistake  I  have  made  or  allow 
myself  to  be  placed  in  any  official  position  in  any  society, 
congress,  or  association.  Excuse  all  this  egotism.  I  merely 
want  to  show  you  that  I  am  not  to  be  considered  in  any  plan, 
but  am  to  be  left  entirely  out  and  left  to  act  as  a  high  private. 
My  work  for  the  Congress  will  consist  in  getting  the  new 
Library  and  Museum  building  completed  and  properly 
arranged  by  the  time  it  meets. 

In  reply  to  a  letter  from  one  of  the  committee-presidents 
of  the  Congress  proposing  that  he  serve  as  one  of  the  vice- 
presidents  of  the  section  on  military  and  naval  surgery, 
Billings  telegraphed  as  follows:  "I  cannot  accept  any 
official  position  in  the  Congress  so  long  as  the  injustice 
which  has  been  done  remains  uncorrected"  (November 
18,  1885). 

The  Ninth  International  Congress  met  in  Washington 
in  1887,  and  some  distinguished  men  were  present,  but 
its  transactions,  as  compared  with  the  work  of  the  London 
Congress  of  1881  or  the  Berlin  Congress  of  1890,  were 
merely  those  of  an  assemblage  of  respectable  mediocrity. 
It  is  sufficient  to  state  Billings's  course  in  this  matter 
without  defending  it.  He  was  a  man  of  proud  mind  and 
imperious  temper,  one  not  given  to  brooking  insults,  very 
much  inclined  to  have  his  own  way,  no  doubt,  yet  willing 
to  settle  controversy  by  compromise  if  he  could  have 
peace  with  honour.  Finding  he  could  have  neither  in  a 
hostile  environment,  he  simply  turned  his  back. 

This  unfortunate  affair  caused  the  severance  of  many 
friendships  even  unto  this  day.  Dr.  Billings,  however, 
speedily  dismissed  the  matter  from  his  mind,  and,  at  the 
Atlantic  City  meeting  of  the  American  Medical  Associa- 
tion on  June  7,  1904,  seventeen  years  later,  he  was  able 
to  show  that  he  had  forgotten  all  about  it : 


Surgeon-General's  Library  and  Catalogue  263 

LETTER  TO  MRS.   BILLINGS 

June  8,  1904.  I  was  well  received  by  the  Association,  and 
my  little  paper1  was  applauded.  I  met  Frank  Billings  and  he 
promised  to  come  and  see  me  when  he  is  next  in  New  York.  I 
saw  Welch,  Osier,  Jacobi,  Fitz  and  Shattuck.  A  great  many 
men  came  up  and  shook  hands.  Several  said  they  were  glad 
I  had  forgotten  New  Orleans. 

In  1887,  the  Army  Medical  Museum,  which  had  been 
planned  as  to  administrative  and  sanitary  arrangements  by 
Billings  himself,  was  completed  and  opened  to  the  public, 
the  Museum  proper  and  the  contents  of  the  Surgeon- 
General's  Library  having  been  moved  into  it.  This  build- 
ing, situated  at  the  corner  of  Seventh  and  B  streets  S.  W., 
Washington,  D.  C.,  is  a  large  three-story  structure,  con- 
sisting essentially  of  the  huge  library  hall,  containing  the 
book  stacks,  and  the  Museum  proper,  at  opposite  (west 
and  east)  ends  of  a  hallway  on  the  second  floor;  with 
laboratories  and  office  rooms  above  and  below  stairs,  an 
anatomical  laboratory  attached  as  a  north  wing,  photo- 
graphic galleries  underneath  the  roof,  and  storerooms  and 
work-shops  in  the  cellar.  The  collection  in  the  Museum 
proper  owes  its  inception  to  a  circular  issued  by  Surgeon- 
General  William  A.  Hammond  on  May  21,  1862,  in  which 

as  it  is  proposed  to  establish  in  Washington  an  Army  Medical 
Museum,  medical  officers  are  directed  diligently  to  collect  and 
forward  to  the  office  of  the  Surgeon-General  all  specimens  of 
morbid  anatomy,  surgical  or  medical,  which  may  be  regarded 
as  valuable;  together  with  projectiles  and  foreign  bodies  re- 
moved, and  such  other  matters  as  may  prove  of  interest  in  the 
study  of  military  medicine  or  surgery. 

1  Dr.  Billings's  paper  on  "The  Carnegie  Institution"  was  read,  as  part  of 
a  symposium  on  Research  Work  in  the  United  States,  on  June  7,  1904,  and 
published  in  the  Journal  of  the  American  Medical  Association,  Chicago, 
1904,  xlii.,  1674. 


264  JoHn.  SHaw  Billings 

At  the  end  of  the  year  1862,  over  a  thousand  specimens 
had  been  collected  from  the  fields  of  the  Civil  War, 
and  the  catalogue,  prepared  by  Captain  Alfred  A. 
Woodhull  in  1866,  showed  that  the  collection  had  already 
increased  to  7716  specimens.  When  the  collection  was 
moved  into  the  new  fire-proof  building  in  July,  1887,  it 
numbered  over  15,000  specimens  of  normal,  comparative, 
and  pathological  anatomy,  surgical  instruments  and 
apparatus,  microscopes,  medical  medals,  and  the  like,  with 
some  10,416  microscopical  specimens.  At  the  present 
time  the  Museum  contains  1233  anatomical  specimens, 
622  comparative,  12,916  microscopical,  3895  miscellaneous 
items,  and  15,015  photographs. 

Its  care,  growth,  and  classification  have  been  largely  due 
to  the  able  curatorship  of  Dr.  Daniel  S.  Lamb.  The 
microscopical  work,  normal  and  pathological,  was  for 
many  years  under  the  management  of  Dr.  William  M. 
Gray.  The  Army  Medical  Museum  is  especially  rich  in  its 
collection  of  unique  gunshot  fractures,  mostly  from  the 
Civil  War,  and  contains  many  rare  curiosities,  such  as  the 
successful  ligation  of  the  innominate,  common  carotid,  and 
right  vertebral  arteries  by  Dr.  A.  W.  Smyth  of  New  Or- 
leans; but  it  is  in  no  sense  an  anatomical  museum,  nor 
does  it  contain  any  such  rich  stores  of  pathological  material 
or  anything  approaching  the  physiological  series  in  the 
Hunterian  Museum  of  the  Royal  College  of  Surgeons. 
This  is  partly  because  most  of  the  specimens  have 
been  donated  by  officers  of  the  Army  or  by  practising 
physicians  and  surgeons,  many  of  whom  would  naturally 
incline  to  keep  things  interesting  in  their  own  experience 
for  themselves.  At  best,  it  is  an  interesting  general  collec- 
tion, numbering  among  its  treasures  fine  specimens  of  the 
work  of  such  men  as  His  of  Leipzig,  Cunningham  of 
Dublin,  or  the  lifelike  reproductions  of  skin  and  venereal 
diseases  by  Baretta  of  Paris.  In  1888,  Dr.  Billings,  as 


Surgeon-General's  Library  and  Catalogue  265 

President  of  the  Congress  of  American  Physicians  and 
Surgeons,  delivered  a  valuable  historical  address  on 
"Medical  Museums,"  in  which  the  Army  Medical 
Museum  is  described  at  length.  He  reviews  the  develop- 
ment of  these  institutions,  their  probable  origin  from  the 
hanging  up  of  votive  offerings  in  the  ancient  Greek  As- 
clepieia;  the  great  collections  of  Ruysch,  Fontana,  the 
Hunters,  Abernethy,  Dupuytren,  Orfila,  and  the  Warren 
Museum  of  Boston;  and  of  his  own  collection,  he  remarks 
that  although  at  first  limited  to  medico-military  specimens, 
"of  late  years,  its  scope  has  been  greatly  broadened,  and 
is  now  nearly  the  same  as  that  of  the  Royal  College  of 
Surgeons": 

The  medical  museum  hints  at  matters  which  lie  outside  the 
scope  of  known  physical  and  chemical  laws.  Physicians  have 
not,  as  a  rule,  been  very  virulent  theologians;  their  studies  and 
their  daily  work  tend  to  give  them  compensation  of  bias  in  this 
particular,  and,  therefore,  in  this  age  of  transition  in  beliefs,  it 
is  not  so  true  of  them  as  of  others,  that  "the  old  hopes  have 
grown  weak,  the  old  fears  dim,  the  old  faiths  numb. "  In  our 
medical  museum  yonder  may  be  found  abundant  illustrations 
of  the  results  of  physical  and  chemical  actions  and  reactions 
upon  what  was  once  living  matter,  and  was  connected  with 
centres  of  consciousness,  of  intellect,  of  emotions  which  imply 
something  more  than  ordinary  protoplasm,  or  mere  meta- 
bolism. It  brings  together  strange  company.  The  men  who 
dwelt  on  the  sides  of  the  Andes  in  the  old  Aztec  days,  the  men 
who  built  cities  in  the  Gila  Valley  centuries  before  the  days  of 
Columbus,  the  Esquimaux,  and  the  Indian  of  the  plains,  black 
and  white,  red  and  yellow,  all  sorts  and  conditions  of  men  are 
represented  in  those  bony  caskets  which  once  held  their 
centres  of  life  and  thought;  but  now  are  reckoned  only  as  so 
many  crania  in  the  Museum  catalogue.  The  great  majority  of 
the  pathological  specimens  imply  either  suffering  or  death,  or 
both,  of  the  individual  from  whence  they  came.  Some  of 
them  are  the  results  of  intemperance,  of  lust,  of  folly  and 


266  JoHn  SHaw  Billing's 

crime;  but  some  are  the  results  of  unselfish  sacrifice  for  the 
good  of  others,  true  flowers  of  blood  and  pain.  A  large  group 
of  them  form  one  of  the  relics  of  an  acute  paroxysm  of  disease 
of  a  great  nation.  The  old  pensioner  likes  to  keep  the  battered 
ball  which  crippled  him,  and  so  these  relics  have  an  interest 
beyond  that  which  is  purely  professional.  That  the  nation  is 
not  crippled  by  its  loss,  takes  nothing  from  their  interest,  and 
the  fact  that  we  are  physicians  does  not  imply  that  we  look 
upon  them  from  a  medical  or  scientific  stand  only.  Those 
of  the  combatants  who  survive  are  now  better  friends  than 
ever,  and  the  museum  specimens,  coming  as  they  do  from 
the  sick  and  wounded  of  both  armies,  and  contributed  by 
both  Union  and  Confederate  surgeons,  enforce  the  lesson  of 
the  unity  of  the  profession  and  of  its  interests,  as  well  as  that 
of  our  country.1 

In  September,  1888,  the  Congress  of  Physicians  and 
Surgeons  was  held  in  Washington,  and  in  connection  with 
his  presidential  address  on  Medical  Museums,  Dr.  Billings 
gave  a  reception  to  the  members  of  the  Congress  at  the 
newly  constructed  Army  Medical  Museum.  Among  the 
foreign  visitors  at  the  Congress  was  the  distinguished 
German  army  surgeon,  Friedrich  von  Esmarch,  who,  with 
his  wife,  was  Dr.  Billings's  personal  guest.  By  his  mar- 
riage with  this  lady,  who  was  a  royal  princess,  Baron  Es- 
march became  uncle  to  the  present  Emperor  of  Germany. 
Of  her  visit  to  the  reception  in  the  Museum,  Dr.  Fletcher 
used  to  relate  an  amusing  little  anecdote.  The  only  bever- 
ages served  at  the  reception  were  strong  waters  and  the 
ubiquitous  punch.  During  the  evening,  Dr.  Fletcher 
was  approached  by  an  Irish  messenger,  one  of  the  old 
soldiers  of  the  Civil  War,  who  announced  in  trembling 
whispers:  "Doctor,  doctor,  the  Princess  has  asked  for 
champagne!"  Fletcher,  with  his  admirable  savoir  faire, 
at  once  whispered  back:  "Take  the  lady  whatever 

1  Tr.  Cong.  Am.  Phys.  and  Surg.,  1888,  New  Haven,  1889,  i.,'377-378. 


Surgeon-General's  Library  and  Catalogue  267 

you  have,  John;  she'll  understand," — and  so  it  turned 
out. 

To  this  period  belong  a  brilliant  series  of  memorable 
addresses  on  varied  subjects,  in  particular  the  presidential 
address  to  the  Philosophical  Society  of  Washington,  on 
"Scientific  Men  and  their  Duties"  (1886) ;  that,  before  the 
Association  of  American  Physicians  on  "Methods  of 
Research  and  Medical  Literature,"  giving  a  valuable 
bibliography  of  reference  books  (1887) ;  the  lectures  before 
the  Lowell  Institute  of  Boston  on  the  history  of  medicine 
(1887-88);  the  Commencement  Day  address  on  "The 
Medical  College  of  Ohio  before  the  War"  (1888);  the 
address  at  the  opening  of  the  Johns  Hopkins  Hospital, 
(1889);  the  Cartwright  Lectures  on  "Vital  and  Medical 
Statistics"  delivered  before  the  Alumni  Association  of 
the  College  of  Physicians  of  New  York  (1889) ;  the  address 
on  "Public  Health  and  Municipal  Government"  delivered 
before  the  American  Academy  of  Political  and  Social 
Science  at  the  Art  Club,  Philadelphia  (1891);  the  witty 
discourse  on  "American  Inventions  and  Discoveries  in 
Medicine,  Surgery,  and  Practical  Sanitation"  read  at  the 
celebration  of  the  beginning  of  the  second  century  of  the 
American  patent  system  at  Washington,  D.  C.  (April  8-10, 
1891);  that  on  "Ideals  of  Medical  Education"  delivered 
at  the  commencement  of  the  Medical  Faculty  at  Yale 
University  (June  23,  1891);  the  important  paper  on 
international  uniformity  in  medico-military  statistics, 
read  at  the  International  Medical  Congress  at  Berlin 
(1890);  the  addresses  delivered  at  the  opening  of  the 
Laboratory  of  Hygiene  of  the  University  of  Pennsylvania 
(February  22,  1892)  and  the  William  Pepper  Laboratory 
of  Clinical  Medicine  (December  4,  1895),  both  planned  by 
Billings;  the  address  to  the  University  Extension  Classes 
at  Oxford,  England,  on  "Hygiene  in  University  Educa- 
tion" (August  7,  1894),  and  the  Emersonian  discourse  on 


268  JoHn.  SHaw  Billings 

"Waste"  given  on  commencement  day  at  his  Alma  Mater, 
Miami  University  (June  20,  1895). 

In  all  these,  Billings  shows  the  easy  mastery  of  his  sub- 
ject, the  wide  and  well-remembered  reading,  the  wealth  of 
witty  and  apposite  allusions,  the  clarity  and  perspicuity 
of  phrase,  which  had  long  before  brought  him  into  con- 
stant request  as  a  most  effective  and  forcible  speaker  on 
occasions  of  this  kind.  Of  his  appearance  and  manner  in 
this  connection,  Dr.  Weir  Mitchell  has  said: 

On  public  occasions,  his  personality  stood  for  something  in 
the  estimate  of  the  man.  Tall  and  largely  built,  he  was  as  a 
speaker  in  the  after-dinner  hour  or  when  addressing  a  body  of 
men  a  commanding  presence,  with  flow  of  wholesome  English, 
ready  wit  and  humour  such  as  rarely  came  to  the  surface  in  his 
ordinary  talk.  The  figure  of  athletic  build,  the  large  blue  eyes, 
a  certain  happy  sense  of  easy  competence,  won  regard  and 
held  the  respectful  attention  of  those  who  listened.  For  me 
there  was  always  some  faintly  felt  sense  of  that  expression  of 
melancholy  seen  often  in  men  who  carry  through  a  life  of 
triumphant  success  the  traces  of  too  terrible  battle  with  the 
early  difficulties  of  their  younger  days.1 

Such  addresses,  each  a  finished  production  in  itself, 
were  thrown  off  by  Billings  as  literary  jeux  d1  esprit,  odd 
jobs,  trifles  by  the  way,  and  incident  to  more  important 
labours.  In  1885,  he  had  entered  into  an  agreement  with  a 
firm  of  Philadelphia  publishers  to  produce  a  National 
Medical  Dictionary,  to  contain  all  technical  terms  in 
medicine,  pharmacy,  and  the  collateral  sciences,  currently 
used  in  English,  French,  German,  and  Italian  literature. 
With  the  collaboration  of  W.  O.  Atwater,  Frank  Baker, 
Swan  M.  Burnett,  W.  T.  Councilman,  James  M.  Flint, 
Charles  S.  Minot,  Henry  C.  Yarrow,  and  others,  this  work 
was  completed  on  the  co-operative  plan  and  published,  in 

1  S.  Weir  Mitchell,  Science,  N.  Y.,  1913,  n.  s.,  xxxviii.,  832. 


Surgeon-General's  Library  and  Catalogue  269 

two  large  volumes,  in  1890.  It  contains  appendices  of 
tables  of  weights  and  measures,  poisons  and  antidotes,  and 
other  data,  but  in  spite  of  the  able  performance  of  the 
editor  and  his  collaborators,  the  publication  had  only  a 
"success  of  esteem,"  the  principal  reason  being  that  a 
dictionary  in  more  than  one  volume  is  always  too  un- 
wieldy and  unhandy  for  practical  purposes.  To  physi- 
cians who  read  and  employ  foreign  medical  terms,  it  had 
and  still  has  its  use,  but  it  was  objected  against  it  that  it 
contained  definitions  which  did  not  define,  and  other 
signs  of  hasty  preparation,  and  it  has  long  since  been 
superseded  by  the  current  one-volume  medical  dictionaries 
printed  on  thin  paper.  In  Germany,  however,  this  dic- 
tionary has  been  highly  praised  and  appreciated  by  Franz 
von  Winckel r  and  others. 

From  1880  until  the  end  of  his  life,  Dr.  Billings  was 
constantly  interested  in  the  vital  and  medical  statistics 
of  the  United  States  census,  and  in  connection  with  the 
eleventh  census,  his  separate  reports  were  highly  special- 
ized, taking  in  such  themes  as  the  vital  statistics  of  the 
Jews  in  the  United  States,  the  social  statistics  of  cities, 
the  vital  statistics  of  the  District  of  Columbia  and  Balti- 
more, and  of  New  York  City  and  Brooklyn,  Boston 
and  Philadelphia,  and  the  status  of  the  insane,  feeble- 
minded, deaf,  dumb,  and  blind.  As  an  authority  on 
public  hygiene  Billings  was  frequently  asked  to  investi- 
gate and  report  upon  the  sanitary  condition  of  cities, 
and  hotels,  as  in  the  case  of  St.  Augustine,  Florida  (1892) ; 
and  his  correspondence  indicates  that  he  did  a  vast 
amount  of  advisory  work  in  which  his  knowledge  and 
ability  as  a  ventilating  engineer  was  constantly  brought 
into  play. 

In  1894,  at  the  instance  of  the  "Committee  of  Fifty  for 
the  Investigation  of  the  Liquor  Problem,"  he  made  a  val- 

1  F.  von  Winckel,  Achtzehn  Vortrage,  Wiesbaden,  1914,  p.  60. 


270  JoKn  SHaw  Billings 

liable  bibliography  of  alcoholism,  and  edited  the  volumes 
on  the  subject  published  by  this  committee. 

In  collaboration  with  Dr.  Henry  M.  Hurd,  Superinten- 
dent of  the  Johns  Hopkins  Hospital,  he  edited  the  papers 
and  discussions  on  hospitals,  dispensaries,  and  nursing  at 
the  International  Congress  of  Charities,  Correction,  and 
Philanthropy  at  Chicago,  1893;  and,  at  the  suggestion  of 
Weir  Mitchell,  Billings  and  Hurd  prepared  a  valuable 
handbook  of  Suggestions  to  Hospital  and  Asylum  Visitors 
in  1895. 

In  June,  1889,  he  was  in  England  to  receive  the  degree 
of  Doctor  of  Civil  Law  from  the  University  of  Oxford,  a 
distinction  which  has  been  conferred  upon  but  few  mem- 
bers of  his  profession. 

TO   MISS    ACLAND    (OXFORD) 

S.  S.  City  of  Chicago.  Queenstown,  July  4,  1889.  Here  we 
are  at  anchor,  waiting  for  the  mails.  Most  of  the  few  passen- 
gers have  gone  on  shore,  where  they  are  no  doubt  bargaining 
for  Irish  lace  and  blackthorn  sticks,  but  I  have  had  enough  of 
that  sort  of  experience  in  days  gone  by  and  prefer  to  sit  quietly 
on  board  and  write  a  few  parting  notes.  Every  time  I  leave 
England  it  is  more  and  more  like  leaving  home,  so  that  my 
affections  are  about  evenly  divided. 

TO   SIR  HENRY    W.    ACLAND    (OXFORD) 

July  15,  1889.  I  reached  home  last  night  (Sunday),  having 
come  on  a  slow  ship,  over  a  smooth  sea,  and  under  a  foggy  sky. 
.  .  .  During  the  voyage  I  thought  much  and  long  of  Oxford, 
of  your  work  there,  of  what  you  have  accomplished  and  of 
what  is  yet  undone  of  what  you  had  proposed  to  do.  I  could 
only  come  to  one  conclusion  and  that  is  that  it  is  extremely 
improbable  that  any  complete  medical  school  will  be  estab- 
lished in  Oxford  which  will  rely  for  its  clinical  teaching  solely 
on  the  staff  of  the  Radcliffe  Infirmary,  and  it  is  certainly  not 
desirable  in  the  interests  of  either  the  profession  or  the  Univer- 


Surgeon-General* s  Library  and  Catalogue  271 

sity  that  such  a  school  should  be  organized.  You  do  want  a 
pathological  and  a  pharmacological  institute  with  two  of  the 
best  men  who  can  be  had  at  the  head  of  them,  and  it  seems  to 
me  probable,  though  by  no  means  certain,  that  a  more  direct 
and  closer  connection  with  some  of  the  great  London  hospitals 
than  you  now  have  would  be  advantageous.  Just  how  these 
things  are  to  be  obtained  I  of  course  do  not  know,  but  somehow 
it  usually  happens  that  when  it  becomes  possible  to  define  a 
real  want,  a  want  not  of  one  or  two  individuals  but  of  a  large 
body  of  educated  men,  the  means  come  somehow.  I  think  that 
there  is  a  motto — "  Non  eget  arci,"  if  you  can  manage  to 
provide  the  arrows  the  bows  shall  not  be  wanting.  .  .  .  My 
recent  visit  to  Oxford  has  given  me  many  pleasant  memories, 
of  which  your  own  great  kindness  is  chief.  I  know  that  your 
chief  object  in  life  is  to  make  other  people  happy,  and  I  think 
it  no  harm  to  tell  you  how  well  you  have  succeeded  with  me 
and  mine. 

The  next  year  (1890)  saw  him  again  in  Europe,  this 
time  to  address  the  International  Medical  Congress  at 
Berlin  on  the  subject  "  International  Uniformity  in  Medico- 
Military  Statistics. "  He  spent  three  months  in  Europe  in 
company  with  his  wife,  and  his  official  instructions  were 
such  that  he  was  enabled  to  visit  the  leading  cities  of  the 
continent  during  his  stay. 

In  1892,  he  was  again  in  Great  Britain,  to  receive  the 
honorary  degree  of  M.D.  at  the  tercentenary  of  Dublin 
University  and  an  honorary  fellowship  in  the  Royal 
College  of  Surgeons  of  Ireland  (July  7,  1892).  In  Janu- 
ary of  this  year,  he  had  been  twice  on  the  operating  table 
for  cancer  of  the  lip,  yet  he  delivered  the  address  at  the 
opening  of  the  Laboratory  of  Hygiene  of  the  University  of 
Pennsylvania  on  February  22d,  and,  the  following  day, 
was  again  operated  on  by  Halsted  of  Baltimore  for  the 
troublesome  condition.  Throughout  the  same  year,  he  was 
lecturing  on  hygiene  at  the  University  of  Pennsylvania  and 


272  JoKn  SHaw  Billings 

the  School  of  Mines  (New  York),  on  the  history  of  medi- 
cine at  the  Johns  Hopkins,  made  a  report  on  the  sanitary 
condition  of  St.  Augustine,  Florida,  inspected  the  hospital 
at  Fort  Monroe,  and  lectured  to  the  officers  there  on 
bacteriology.  A  few  letters  relating  to  his  Dublin  experi- 
ence follow: 

Dublin.  July  6,  3  P.M.  I  received  my  honorary  degree  of 
Doctor  of  Medicine  this  morning  in  company  with  Sir  Andrew 
Clark  and  Mr.  Bryant,  the  Presidents  of  the  Royal  College  of 
Physicians  and  of  the  Royal  College  of  Surgeons. 

July  7.  At  the  banquet  last  night  I  was  placed  next  to 
Henry  Irving  and  we  became  exceedingly  friendly.  I  shall 
probably  see  more  of  him  in  London. 

Oxford,  July  22,  1892.  Here  I  am  in  Sir  Henry's1  library, 
looking  out  into  the  garden  where  the  sun  is  shining.  Tuesday 
evening  Brunton  gave  me  a  dinner  at  the  Athenaeum  at  which 
Sir  Archibald  Geikie,  Mr.  Lockyer,  Langdon  Mitchell  (son  of 
Weir  Mitchell),  Mr.  Black  the  novelist,  Dr.  Thorne-Thorne 
and  several  others  were  present,  and  everything  went  off 
beautifully. 

In  August,  he  was  back  in  his  Washington  office  again, 
working  hard  at  the  Index  Catalogue  and  the  census : 

TO  MRS.   BILLINGS 

August  1 8.  It  has  been  warmer  since  you  left — not  friz- 
zlingly  hot,  but  stewily  warm,  and  you  are  well  out  of  it.  I 
am  grinding  away  at  the  usual  work  and  have  no  news  of  any 
kind — no  new  books — no  new  aches,  nothing  but  a  few  pages 
of  proof  read — a  few  thousand  cards  assorted  and  a  few  pages 
of  foolscap  written.  I  have  been  considering  the  question, 
"Why  are  there  more  old  women  than  old  men."  I  suppose 
the  only  answer  is  that  men  are  more  vicious. 

1  Sir  Henry  Acland. 


Surgeon-General's  Library  and  Catalogue  273 

In  January,  1893,  Dr.  Billings  published  A  Condensed 
Statement  of  the  Requirements  of  the  Principal  University 
Medical  Schools  in  Europe,  which  has  already  been  re- 
ferred to.  At  the  same  time,  his  work  on  the  census  was 
beginning  to  attract  attention,  and  in  connection  with  his 
extensive  reports  on  the  vital  statistics  of  particular 
American  cities,  he  was  asked  by  Mr.  Walter  H.  Page, 
editor  of  the  Forum,  to  write  a  series  of  articles  bringing 
the  results  of  his  statistical  surveys  down  to  popular  com- 
prehension. These  articles,  published  in  the  Forum  during 
1893-94,  deal  in  an  effective  way  with  the  hygienic  defects 
in  American  cities  and  with  the  municipal  sanitation  of 
Washington  and  Baltimore,  New  York  and  Brooklyn, 
Boston  and  Philadelphia.  A  paper  in  the  same  journal  on 
"Medicine  as  a  Career"  and  another  in  the  International 
Journal  of  Ethics  on  "The  Effects  of  His  Occupation  on 
the  Physician"  bear  witness  to  his  interest  in  the  deonto- 
logy of  his  profession.  These  papers  are  not  mere  pot- 
boilers, but,  like  his  best,  precisely  written  and  still 
readable. 

In  1894,  Billings  was  again  abroad  in  connection  with 
an  address  which  he  was  invited  to  give  to  the  University 
Extension  Classes  at  Oxford  on  "Hygiene  in  University 
Education, "  in  which  his  capacity  for  translating  statistics 
into  practical  wisdom  is  again  demonstrated.  During  this 
European  sojourn,  he  seems  to  have  spent  some  time  in 
Germany,  leaving  Mrs.  Billings  with  friends  in  England. 

TO   SIR  HENRY   W.   ACLAND    (OXFORD) 

January  19,  1893.  As  to  the  broader  outlook  of  the  coming 
attempts  at  socialistic  management  of  civilized  nations  I  have 
little  to  say.  I  recognize  the  tendency,  but  my  impression  is 
that  the  arc  of  the  pendulum  is  a  limited  one  and  that  we  shall 
go  so  far  and  no  farther.  Very  possibly,  however,  the  new 
generation  will  have  to  settle  the  matter  by  war  in  the  good 

18 


274  JoHn  SHaw  Billing's 

old  way.  It  is  the  final  court  of  appeal  in  this  world  after  all, 
and  those  who  think  it  can  be  permanently  avoided  appear  to 
me  to  be  in  error.  I  hope  however  that  it  may  not  come  in  my 
time,  for  I  have  seen  more  than  enough  of  it.  How  far  it  may 
be  possible  by  hygiene  to  preserve  the  weak  and  incompetent 
I  do  not  know,  but  it  seems  to  me  that  we  ought  to  try,  and 
leave  the  results  in  the  hands  of  Divine  Providence. 

July  9,  1893.  Mrs.  Billings  and  I  went  to  Chicago  for  a  week 
and  to  our  untutored  savage  natures  the  World's  Fair  appeared 
very  magnificent.  The  buildings  and  grounds  surpass  in 
beauty  and  interest  anything  that  I  have  ever  seen.  As  to  the 
exhibits  I  spent  most  of  my  time  in  the  Arts  gallery  and  the 
machinery  and  fisheries  buildings.  There  is  plenty  for  any 
one  to  learn,  of  course,  but  I  did  not  try  to  do  that — I  just 
wandered  about,  like  a  country  boy  on  his  first  visit  to  the  city, 
looking  at  the  shops  and  the  people.  I  do  not  think  I  shall  go 
to  Chicago  again  this  summer  as  I  have  considerable  work  in 
prospect.  The  Surgeon-General  has  decided  to  have  an  Army 
Medical  School  on  the  Netley  plan  organized  at  the  Medical 
Museum,  the  first  session  to  begin  in  November  next.  I  am 
to  be  the  Professor  of  Hygiene  and  must  see  to  getting  the 
laboratories  fitted  up  and  ready  for  work.  I  have  also  promised 
to  write  100  pages  of  a  History  of  Surgery  for  a  new  American 
Cyclopaedia  of  Surgery,  and  these  with  my  regular  library 
and  other  work  will  keep  me  busy.  ...  If  I  go  to  the 
International  Congress  of  Hygiene  at  Buda  Pesth,  I  shall 
hear  your  address  on  Sydenham,  who  is  one  of  my  great 
teachers. 

TO    MRS.    BILLINGS 

Frankfurt  a.M.,  August  21,  1894.  We  have  just  returned 
from  a  pleasant  day  at  Hamburg.  The  sun  actually  shone  in 
the  afternoon — the  first  time  we  have  seen  it  for  five  days.  .  .  . 
Yesterday  we  spent  in  looking  at  water  works  and  sewage 
filtration  works,  and,  at  8  P.M.  we  are  to  take  supper  with  Mr. 
Lindley,  the  Chief  Engineer  of  the  city. 


Surgeon-General's  Library  and  Catalogue  275 

Nuremberg,  August  24.  Yesterday  we  went  to  Rothenburg, 
a  quaint  old  mediaeval  town  and  arrived  here  this  evening. 
We  have  been  walking  about  and  looking  at  the  many  curious 
sights  'which  Nuremberg  affords,  and  I  for  one  am  thoroughly 
tired.  We  go  presently  to  a  restaurant  in  a  park  outside  the 
town  for  dinner,  and  to-morrow  we  go  on  to  Munich.  .  .  . 
We  shall  probably  stay  in  Munich  Sunday  and  Monday,  then 
go  to  Salzburg  for  a  day,  and  thence  to  Vienna,  where  we  are 
to  meet  Drs.  Hurd  and  Berkley. 

The  year  1 895  marks  the  close  of  Dr.  Billings's  connec- 
tion with  the  Surgeon-General's  Library  and  its  Index 
Catalogue  through  his  voluntary  retirement  from  active 
service  in  the  Army  to  assume  the  full  duties  of  Professor 
of  Hygiene  in  the  University  of  Pennsylvania.  During 
this  year,  he  published  his  history  of  surgery,  continued 
his  valuable  reports  on  the  eleventh  census,  participated 
in  the  opening  of  the  William  Pepper  Laboratory  of 
Clinical  Medicine  (December  4th),  which  was  planned  by 
himself,  continued  his  lectures  at  the  Johns  Hopkins 
Hospital  and  the  University  of  Pennsylvania  and,  most 
important  of  all,  completed  the  first  series  of  the  Index 
Catalogue.  During  the  sixteen  years  of  its  issue,  volume 
by  volume,  the  furtherance  and  completion  of  this  work 
was  the  main  object  of  his  thought  and  the  chief  end  of  his 
endeavour.  "Around  it,"  says  Woodhull,  "his  personal 
desires  and  official  actions  revolved  together."  His 
methods  of  work,  checking  the  articles  to  be  indexed  in  the 
periodicals  at  home  if  necessary,  shaping  the  classification 
of  subject  bibliographies  and  redacting  them  after  they 
had  been  prepared  for  the  printer  by  his  assistants,  and 
reading  the  last  printer's  revision  of  the  proof  after  it  had 
been  carefully  read  and  corrected  by  Dr.  Fletcher,  have 
been  already  described,  and  they  were  continued  until  the 
end  of  his  official  career.  Yet  his  view  of  his  own  relation 
to  this  work  was  at  once  modest  and  humorous : 


276  JoKn  SHaw  Billings 

While  the  librarian  is  in  one  respect  only  a  sort  of  hod-carrier, 
who  brings  together  the  bricks  made  by  one  set  of  men  in  order 
that  another  set  of  men  may  build  therewith — he  is  apt  to  take 
quite  as  much  pride  and  satisfaction  in  the  resulting  structure, 
provided  it  be  a  good  one,  as  if  he  had  built  it  himself;  and  he 
has  constantly  unrolling  before  him  a  panorama  which,  though 
at  times  a  little  monotonous,  contains  as  much  wisdom, 
humour,  and  pathos,  as  any  other  product  of  the  human  in- 
tellect with  which  I  am  acquainted. 

Of  the  valuable  work  of  his  acute  and  learned  coadjutor, 
Dr.  Robert  Fletcher,  who  marked  all  the  subject  cards 
with  the  proper  classification  and  did  the  careful  proof- 
reading referred  to,  Billings  speaks  in  terms  of  unstinted 
praise : 

Soon  after  the  publication  of  the  specimen  fasciculus,  Dr. 
Robert  Fletcher  was  assigned  to  duty  in  the  library,  and  be- 
came the  principal  assistant  in  the  work  of  preparing  and 
printing  the  Index  Catalogue.  His  service  in  this  work  has 
been  continuous  to  this  date,  and  I  cannot  sufficiently  express 
my  sense  of  its  importance  and  value.  The  accuracy  and 
typographical  excellence  of  the  volumes  are  largely  due  to  his 
careful  and  skilful  supervision. 

In  his  valedictory,  printed  in  the  last  volume  of  the 
first  series  of  the  Index  Catalogue,  Billings  gives  scrupulous 
credit  to  his  other  assistants  for  their  work  and  concludes 
with  the  dignified  simplicity  which  characterizes  all  his 
utterances  relating  to  himself : 

This  is  probably  the  last  volume  of  the  Index  Catalogue 
which  will  be  issued  under  my  personal  supervision,  and,  in 
closing  the  work,  I  can  only  say  that  it  has  been  to  me  a 
"labour  of  love,"  and  that  I  am  very  thankful  that  I  have 
been  allowed  to  complete  it,  so  far  as  the  first  series  is 
concerned. 


Surgeon-General's  Library  and  Catalogue  277 

Following  Billings's  retirement  from  active  service  in 
the  Army  a  second  series  of  the  Index  Catalogue  was  begun, 
and  its  careful  redaction,  the  scientific  classification  of 
subjects,  and  the  skilful  proof  reading  were  the  work  of 
Dr.  Fletcher,  even  up  to  the  date  of  his  last  illness  and  his 
death  in  1912.  It  is  now  nearing  completion.  Meanwhile 
the  official  management  and  administration  of  the  great 
library,  the  selection  and  purchase  of  its  books,  the  selec- 
tion of  material  for  indexing,  the  enlargement  and  im- 
provement of  its  resources,  passed  into  the  hands  of  the 
Army  medical  officers  who  succeeded  Billings.  As  the 
cantors  of  the  Thomasschule  at  Leipzig,  the  successors  of 
Bach,  had  to  be  men  learned  in  counterpoint,  worthy 
followers  of  the  great  seventeenth-century  music  master, 
so  these  army  surgeons  have  been  men  specially  selected 
for  their  scientific  and  literary  attainments.  Huntington, 
one  of  the  collaborators  of  the  Medical  and  Surgical  His- 
tory of  the  War  of  the  Rebellion,  Merrill,  distinguished  by  his 
work  in  ornithology,  Walter  Reed,  a  pupil  of  Welch  and 
discoverer  of  the  causal  nexus  and  mode  of  prevention  of 
yellow  fever,  and  Walter  D.  McCaw,  who  specialized  in 
tropical  medicine  and  added  greatly  to  the  unique  his- 
torical collections  of  the  Library,  have  all  been  imbued  with 
the  spirit  of  enthusiasm  and  the  interest  in  the  literary  side 
of  medicine  which  Billings  brought  to  his  work.  Under 
the  able  administration  of  its  present  Librarian,  Colonel 
Champe  C.  McCulloch,  the  Surgeon-General's  Library 
now  contains  220,749  volumes,  331,802  pamphlets,  and 
5187  portraits. 


CHAPTER  VI 

PHILADELPHIA 

ONE  evening  in  1889,  after  Dr.  Billings  had  completed 
his  work  on  the  Johns  Hopkins  Hospital,  Mr.  Henry 
C.  Lea  of  Philadelphia,  in  response  to  an  earnest 
appeal,  agreed  to  erect  at  his  own  expense,  at  a  cost  of  not 
less  than  fifty  thousand  dollars,  a  laboratory  of  hygiene  for 
the  University  of  Pennsylvania,  provided  that  an  additional 
sum  of  $200,000  were  raised  as  its  endowment,  that  Dr. 
Billings  were  secured  as  its  director,  and  that  the  study  of 
hygiene  were  made  obligatory  on  students  of  medicine, 
dentistry,  and  other  branches.  The  next  morning,  Dr. 
William  Pepper  was  at  Dr.  Billings's  home  in  Washington, 
before  breakfast,  and  an  agreement,  which  still  exists,  was 
drawn  up  and  signed,  to  the  effect  that  Billings  was  to 
commence  duties  as  director  of  the  University  Hospital 
on  January  I,  1890,  to  begin  to  prepare  plans  for  a  labora- 
tory of  hygiene,  to  study  the  best  hygienic  laboratories  in 
Europe  during  the  summer  of  1890,  to  assume  the  pro- 
fessorship of  hygiene  in  the  University  of  Pennsylvania, 
and  to  lecture,  if  necessary,  during  the  winter  of  1891,  while 
giving  up  his  lectures  at  the  School  of  Mines  in  New  York. 
Upon  completing  the  Index  Catalogue,  he  was  to  request 
retirement  from  active  service  in  the  Army,  and  if  such 
request  were  granted,  to  reside  permanently  in  Philadel- 
phia thereafter.  Not  only  was  the  endowment  stipulated 

278 


Philadelphia  279 

by  Mr.  Lea  soon  raised  by  public  spirited  citizens,  $60,000 
having  been  devoted  to  endowing  the  chair  of  hygiene  by 
Mr.  George  S.  Pepper,  but  an  additional  subscription  of 
$50,000  was  raised  for  the  medical  department  and  an 
additional  guarantee  of  $20,000  per  annum  for  five  years 
was  secured.  Some  years  later  (February  20,  1894), 
William  Pepper,  that  "far-seeing,  bold-planning  man  of 
the  silver  tongue  and  the  open  hand,"  as  Billings  has 
called  him,  subscribed  $50,000  for  the  erection  and  partial 
endowment  of  the  first  distinctive  laboratory  for  research 
in  clinical  medicine  in  America,  which  was  planned  by 
Billings  and  constructed  by  Cope  and  Stewardson. 

During  the  academic  session  1891-92,  Dr.  Billings,  by 
permission  of  the  Surgeon-General,  began  to  lecture  on 
hygiene  and  vital  statistics  at  the  University  of  Pennsyl- 
vania, the  subject  of  bacteriology  being  treated  by  Dr.  A. 
C.  Abbott.  These  lectures  were  continued  until  Billings 
retired  from  the  Army,  after  which  he  took  up  his  residence 
in  Philadelphia  and  became  full  Professor  of  Hygiene  at 
the  University,  having  previously  planned  and  opened  its 
Laboratory  of  Hygiene  (February  22,  1892).  As  Director 
of  the  Laboratory  of  Hygiene,  he  suggested  and  supervised 
certain  valuable  original  investigations  which  were  pre- 
sented to  the  National  Academy  and  published  in  its 
memoirs,  notably  those  on  the  influence  of  light  and  other 
agents  on  the  typhoid  and  colon  bacilli  by  Adelaide  Ward 
Peckham,  on  the  bacteria  of  river  waters  by  James  Homer 
Wright,  and  on  the  composition  of  expired  air  and  its 
effects  on  animal  life  by  Billings,  Weir  Mitchell,  and  D.  H. 
Bergey.  Yet,  although  he  was  able  to  stimulate  his  pupils 
and  others  to  the  production  of  such  admirable  mono- 
graphs, Billings  had  no  special  aptitude  for  chemical  or 
bacteriological  investigations  of  recent  type,  and  indeed 
stipulated  that  the  technical  manipulations  in  these 
sciences  must  be  taught  by  his  assistants.  This  was  but 


280  JoHn.  SHa-w  Billings 

natural,  for  upon  his  earlier  days  of  ardent  microscopical 
work  had  ensued  a  long  period  of  departmental  routine,  of 
public  lecturing,  of  expert  work  in  hospital  construction 
and  other  branches  of  engineering,  and  his  interests  were 
shunted  off  into  these  activities.  Before  he  went  to  Phila- 
delphia, he  had  belonged  to  the  older  school  of  experi- 
mental hygienists,  the  school  of  Pettenkofer.  But  the 
production  of  such  an  important  memoir  as  that  of  his 
pupil  Wright  on  the  bacteriology  of  the  Schuylkill  River, 
which  was  undoubtedly  a  forerunner  of  the  great  Belmont 
filtration  plants  of  Philadelphia,  goes  to  show  that  he 
fully  appreciated  the  importance  of  what  may  be  called 
the  bacteriological  school  of  hygienic  research.  As  it  is, 
his  incumbency  in  the  Philadelphia  chair  of  hygiene  was 
of  short  duration.  He  was  in  actual  residence  for  only  a 
year,  his  professorship  terminating  with  his  appointment 
as  Director  of  the  New  York  Public  Library  in  1896. 
During  his  residence  in  Philadelphia,  he  enjoyed  the 
various  Wistar  parties,  Mahogany  Tree  diversions,  and 
other  features  of  the  social  life  of  the  city. 

We  get  a  glimpse  of  his  university  activities  from  one  or 
two  of  his  letters  to  Sir  Henry  Acland  (Oxford) : 

2115  Chestnut  Street,  Philadelphia.  October  22,  1895. 
We  moved  over  here  to  the  above  address  on  October  I,  and 
are  slowly  settling  down  into  our  new  place.  I  had  a  sharp 
attack  of  gravel  .  .  .  but  I  managed  to  give  all  my  lectures 
and  am  now  feeling  fairly  well,  though  not  very  vigorous,  for, 
as  you  know,  a  milk  diet  and  alkalies  are  not  stimulating.  .  .  . 
I  am  going  to  have  plenty  to  do  here  and  if  I  am  physically 
well  I  shall  enjoy  it.  The  associations  are  pleasant — we  have  a 
fairly  comfortable  house,  and  there  is  a  chance  to  do  some  good 
work.  I  have  in  my  laboratory  a  bright  young  woman,  a 
Ph.D.  of  Zurich  and  a  pupil  of  Koch,  who  has  found  several 
new  species  of  pathogenic  yeasts  and  is  now  engaged  in  experi- 
menting with  them. 


JOHN  SHAW  BILLINGS 

1889 -^T.  51 


Philadelphia  281 

November  23,  1895.  I  am  now  feeling  very  well,  and  have 
some  enjoyment  in  work,  of  which  I  find  plenty.  I  am  giving 
my  lectures  to  the  graduating  class  of  medical  students,  and 
looking  after  the  work  in  my  laboratory,  some  of  which  is  very 
interesting.  I  have  two  good  laboratory  assistants  and  demon- 
strators, and  if  I  can  only  get  means  to  keep  two  or  three  men 
on  original  research  work,  I  shall  be  quite  happy — for  a  little 
while. 

On  November  27,  1895,  Mr.  John  L.  Cadwalader,  one 
of  the  Executive  Committee  of  the  Board  of  Trustees  of 
the  New  York  Public  Library  informed  Dr.  Billings  that  he 
had  been  chosen  as  the  Director  of  the  proposed  Library. 
After  due  discussion  and  deliberation,  the  latter  referred 
the  question  to  Mr.  Charles  C.  Harrison,  Provost  of  the 
University  of  Pennsylvania,  at  the  end  of  the  year  (Decem- 
ber 3Oth),  stating  that  he  had  been  in  the  service  of  the 
University  for  five  years,  during  which  time  the  Depart- 
ment and  Laboratory  of  Hygiene  had  been  organized,  the 
University  Hospital  reorganized,  and  competent  assistants 
obtained,  who  could  carry  on  the  work  without  interrup- 
tion, if  he  resigned.  To  this  end,  he  proposed  carrying  on 
his  university  work  till  the  end  of  the  scholastic  year  at  a 
reduction  in  salary,  in  order  to  give  two  days  in  the  week  to 
the  New  York  Library  until  June  I,  1896,  upon  which 
date  he  proposed  his  resignation  should  take  place.  "I 
make  this  request,"  he  concludes,  "not  because  I  am  in 
any  way  dissatisfied  with  my  position  and  work  here,  nor 
for  the  sake  of  obtaining  greater  compensation,  but 
because  I  believe  I  can  best  contribute  to  the  public  good 
by  undertaking  the  New  York  work. "  The  situation  was 
a  delicate  and  embarrassing  one  for  both  sides.  Dr. 
Billings  had  given  hostages  to  the  University  of  Pennsyl- 
vania, he  had  planned  two  of  its  finest  laboratories,  he  had 
less  than  a  month  before  been  tendered  a  banquet  in  the 
city  with  a  gift  of  perhaps  the  largest  purse  ever  raised  for 


282  JoHn.  SHaw  Billings 

a.  physician  by  private  subscription,  and  he  naturally  felt 
disinclined  to  resign  his  professorship  without  express 
permission  from  the  authorities  of  the  University.  The 
latter,  his  old  friend  Dr.  William  Pepper  in  particular, 
were  very  loath  to  let  him  go,  and  on  December  31,  1895, 
Pepper  sent  him  the  following  note. 

DEAR  DR.  BILLINGS: 

This  is  the  last  day  of  the  old  year.  I  have  been  looking 
into  the  New  Year  in  the  light  of  our  interview  of  the  other 
evening.  The  whole  subject  appears  to  me  so  serious  that  I 
beg  that  you  will  not  allow  your  mind  to  reach  any  definite 
decision,  nor  make  any  positive  reply  until  two  or  three  of  us 
have  had  the  chance  to  discuss  the  situation  fully  with  you. 
Yours  sincerely, 

WILLIAM  PEPPER. 

Yet,  so  important  were  the  issues  at  stake,  that,  largely 
through  the  good  offices  of  Dr.  Weir  Mitchell,  the  whole 
matter  was  adjusted  in  a  few  days,  the  authorities  waived 
their  claim  in  favour  of  New  York,  and  Dr.  Billings 
resigned  his  professorship  in  the  University  of  Pennsyl- 
vania to  take  effect  on  June  1, 1896. 

Prior  to  this  decision,  in  appreciation  of  the  vast  services 
rendered  to  the  medical  profession  by  his  labours  on  the 
Index  Catalogue,  a  testimonial  banquet  had  been  given  to 
Billings  at  the  Hotel  Bellevue,  Philadelphia,  November 
30,  1895,  with  the  unique  gift  of  a  silver  box  containing  a 
check  for  $10,000,  "from  259  physicians  of  the  United 
States  and  Great  Britain,  in  grateful  recognition  of  his 
services  to  medical  scholars."  The  subscribers  to  this 
fund  included  all  his  old  friends  in  England  and  the  best 
names  of  the  profession  in  America.  The  chairman  of  the 
banquet  was  Dr.  S.  Weir  Mitchell.  After  the  discussion  of 
the  menu,  the  first  speaker  to  be  called  on  was  Professor 
J.  M.  Da  Costa  of  Philadelphia,  who  said : 


Philadelphia  283 

Dr.  Billings  has  done  the  whole  of  literature,  the  whole  of 
science,  a  great  good  by  this  unselfish  work,  which  has  been 
of  the  kind  that  builds  up  literature  and  science  indirectly  by 
removing  obstructions  and  saving  time.  This  work  will  con- 
tinue for  generations  and  generations  to  be  a  benefit.  It  is  a 
great  national  credit;  an  illustration  of  what  a  powerful  and 
rich  government  can  do ;  an  illustration  of  the  tact  and  sagacity 
of  the  men  successively  in  charge  of  the  Surgeon-General's 
Office.  It  is  a  credit  alike  to  the  nation,  to  the  Corps  to  which 
Dr.  Billings  belongs,  and  to  the  medical  profession. 

Dr.  Mitchell,  after  a  witty  introduction,  then  presented 
the  silver  box  containing  the  check  in  the  following  words: 

In  offering  this  box  to  my  old  friend,  and  the  gentleman  you 
desire  to  honour  to-night,  I  would  say  that  while  the  silver 
box  contains  this  practical  recognition  of  his  services  it  also 
contains  something  more,  as  my  imagination  figures  it.  You 
all  remember  that  phrase  of  Dr.  Johnson's,  "Wealth  beyond 
the  dreams  of  avarice. "  There  is,  as  I  think  of  it,  within  this 
box,  for  an  imaginative  man,  that  wealth  which  represents 
the  good  feeling,  the  friendly  opinions,  the  thankfulness,  of  the 
scholarship  of  two  continents.  Also  I  may  say  that  this  wealth 
represents  a  noble  avarice,  of  that  kind  which  my  friend  has 
shown  all  his  life — a  desire  to  be  loved  and  respected  by  those 
in  our  profession  whom  men  most  rightly  honour. 

Dr.  Billings  said,  in  acknowledgment  and  in  reply: 

I  think  that  not  the  most  eloquent  speaker  among  you  would 
feel  himself  at  all  able  to  make  a  fitting  reply  to  the  addresses 
to  which  you  have  just  listened.  It  is  impossible  for  me  to  do 
so,  and  I  can  only  say  that  I  thank  you  all  from  the  bottom  of 
my  heart.  To  judge  from  my  own  sensations,  that  is  not  going 
very  deep,  because  to  me  my  heart  seems  at  present  to  be  in 
the  neighbourhood  of  my  larynx. 

Of  course,  in  this  honour  I  am,  in  a  way,  but  a  representa- 
tive, a  large  part  of  it  being  due  to  individual  personal  friend- 


284  JoKn  SHaw  Billings 

ship  and  good  will.  The  work  has  been  rendered  possible  by 
the  co-operation  of  many  men  working  for  many  years,  and  a 
very  large  number  of  those  men  I  see  around  this  table.  Be- 
sides, a  very  large  part  of  this  has  not  been  due  to  individual 
merit,  but,  as  you  know,  to  opportunity. 

After  paying  a  grateful  tribute  to  the  co-operation  of 
Dr.  Fletcher  and  Dr.  Chadwick,  and  giving  a  brief  account 
of  his  earlier  experiences  in  library  work,  he  concluded : 

As  to  this  gift,  I  accept  it  in  the  spirit  in  which  it  is  given;  I 
cannot  yet  say  how  it  shall  be  used.  It  represents  power;  it 
represents  the  power  of  getting  knowledge;  the  power,  perhaps, 
of  developing  knowledge  and  increasing  it.  I  will  endeavour  to 
use  it  in  a  way  that  will  perhaps  be  satisfactory  to  those  who 
have  contributed  it.  In  conclusion,  gentlemen,  I  beg  of  you 
to  accept  my  warmest  and  most  heartfelt  thanks,  and  the 
assurance  of  my  appreciation  of  your  kindness. 

Dr.  James  R.  Chadwick  of  Boston  was  next  called  upon, 
and  after  a  few  introductory  remarks,  read  a  transla- 
tion from  the  diploma  of  the  University  of  Munich,  confer- 
ring upon  Dr.  Billings  the  honorary  degree  of  Doctor  of 
Medicine  (1889): 

"A  man  who  deserves  of  his  country  and  of  literature  the 
highest  praise,  not  only  for  his  numerous  important  writings 
on  the  relations  of  physicians,  on  the  proper  construction  and 
administration  of  hospitals,  on  the  public  health  in  the  United 
States  according  to  the  precepts  of  the  science  and  art  of 
hygiene,  on  the  preservation  and  improvement  in  the  health 
of  the  army,  but  also  for  the  great  collections  thereto  relating, 
which  he  has  established  and  extended;  a  man,  who  in  the 
Index  Medicus,  of  which  he  is  editor,  includes,  by  indefatiga- 
ble industry,  all  the  branches  of  medicine  that  are  being  ad- 
vanced throughout  the  whole  world,  who,  also,  as  author  of  the 
book  that  is  entitled  the  Index  Catalogue  of  the  Library  of 
the  Surgeon-General's  Office,  United  States  Army,  which,  by 


Philadelphia  285 

the  remarkable  munificence  of  those  who  control  the  Govern- 
ment of  the  United  States,  has  been  laid  before  an  immense 
number  of  learned  men,  has  entitled  himself  to  the  gratitude  of 
physicians  and  students  of  history  throughout  the  whole  world, 
and  has  built  for  himself  a  monument  more  lasting  than  brass." 

Dr.  Chad  wick  then  went  on  to  say : 

One  of  the  most  valuable  of  his  many  qualities  has  been  his 
common-sense.  "He  is  like  a  pin,"  to  use  a  Frenchman's 
simile,  "in  that  his  head  prevents  his  going  too  far."  His 
knowledge  of  men  and  his  ability  to  secure  their  enthusiastic 
co-operation  form  the  secret  of  much  of  his  power.  For  instance 
he  not  only  despoiled  my  private  library  of  many  of  its  treas- 
ures in  the  early  days  of  our  acquaintance,  but  persuaded  me 
to  listen  with  equanimity,  when,  as  at  the  dedication  of  the 
medical  library  in  Boston,  he  boasted  of  the  fact  publicly,  and 
intimated  that  the  experience  had  doubtless  proved  a  valuable 
object-lesson  for  me  as  a  librarian.  Mr.  Thomas  Windsor, 
formerly  Librarian  of  the  Manchester  Medical  Library,  in 
England,  is  another  who  has  succumbed  to  his  wiles,  and  from 
the  beginning  has  sent  box  after  box  of  medical  rarities  culled 
from  his  extensive  private  library,  and  this,  despite  the  fact 
that  he  is  the  most  inveterate  collector  and  reader  of  books,  and 
has  a  more  intimate  knowledge  of  their  value  than  any  living 
man.  We  are  but  types  of  his  many  victims. 

He  concluded  with  a  tribute  to  Dr.  Billings's  faithful 
assistants  in  the  Surgeon-General's  Library,  in  particular 
his  loyal  coadjutor,  Dr.  Robert  Fletcher. 

In  a  witty  and  graceful  reply,  Dr.  Fletcher  said : 

While  the  thought  of  a  great  Index  Catalogue  might  have 
occurred  to  thousands  of  persons,  there  have  been  more  than 
once  attempts  made  to  deprive  Dr.  Billings  of  the  credit  of  the 
first  conception,  and,  indeed,  of  some  of  the  carrying  out  of  the 
work  connected  with  that  Index  Catalogue.  I  take  the  oppor- 
tunity to  say — and  there  is  no  man  living  who  can  speak  more 


286  JoKn  SHaw  Billings 

positively  on  that  subject  than  I  can — that  I  know  positively 
that  the  first  conception  of  this  stupendous  work,  the  planning 
of  it,  the  arrangement,  the  classification — in  short,  the  whole 
merit  of  it,  are  all  due  to  Dr.  Billings  exclusively. 

Dr.  Abraham  Jacobi  of  New  York  then  spoke  with 
warmth  and  eloquence,  concluding  as  follows: 

And  now  a  word  about  this  newcomer  and  old  friend.  At 
the  close  of  my  remarks  I  mean  to  become  quite  personal  and 
tell  a  story.  Those  who  know  me  well  are  aware  of  my  not 
committing  many  sins  of  that  kind.  I  am  even  suspected  of 
knowing  no  stories  at  all.  But  there  are  a  few  in  my  repertory, 
and  then-  beauty  consists  in  their  being  true — some  of  them. 
Now,  there  was  a  letter  written  fifty  years  ago,  somewhere  in 
South  America.  It  bore  the  address,  "Alexander  Humboldt, 
Europe. "  That  letter  was  not  slow  in  finding  the  little  great 
man  in  his  side  street  in  Berlin.  In  the  same  way  the  honoured 
guest  of  the  evening  is  called  by  me  and  all  of  us  "Billings," 
not  even  Dr.  Billings.  Not  in  my  most  melancholic  dreams  did 
it  ever  occur  to  me  that  he  would  condescend  to  descend  to  our 
level.  I  say  our  level,  for  I  am  afraid  there  are  but  few  here  so 
distinguished  as  not  to  be  professors.  Most  of  us,  I  fear,  are 
professors,  more  or  less.  And  Billings  is  one  of  us  now,  I  am 
told.  But  I  need  not  be  told  that  he  will  remain  big  enough  to 
require  no  title  additional  to  that  which  he  carried  in  Washing- 
ton. That  title  was  "  Billings. "  And  I  also  know  that  when  in 
Europe — which,  after  all,  is  also  a  part  of  the  world — and  the 
rest  of  the  continents,  men  whom  we  all  know  and  revere  count 
the  very  best  names  of  all  countries,  one  of  the  few  will  be 
"Billings,  of  America." 

At  the  conclusion  of  Dr.  Jacobi's  speech,  Dr.  William 
Osier  of  Baltimore  made  the  following  announcement : 

I  have  to  make  the  very  pleasant  announcement  that 
though  Dr.  Billings  has  left  Washington,  and  the  Army  Medi- 
cal Museum  and  that  the  Army  Library  will  know  him  no  more 


Philadelphia  287 

as  we  have  known  him  there,  yet  his  counterfeit  presentment 
is  to  appear  on  the  walls  of  the  library.  A  sufficient  fund  has 
been  raised  to  have  Dr.  Billings's  portrait  painted,  and  it  will 
be  presented  to  the  Army  Medical  Museum. 

The  portrait  referred  to  by  Sir  William  Osier  was 
painted  by  Cecilia  Beaux  of  Philadelphia  and  now  hangs 
in  the  Library  hall  of  the  Army  Medical  Museum.  In 
accordance  with  the  artist's  desire,  Dr.  Billings  was  painted 
as  a  standing  figure  in  full  uniform  and  wearing  the  scarlet 
gown  which  was  his  vestment  on  the  occasion  of  receiving 
the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Civil  Law  at  Oxford  in  1889.  The 
picture  is  an  admirable  one,  conveying  the  grave  dignity 
and  reserve  which  were  characteristic  of  Billings,  although 
the  countenance,  while  life-like,  bears  some  marks  of  the  ill- 
ness which  had  begun  to  undermine  the  later  years  of  his  life. 


CHAPTER  VII 

THE   NEW   YORK   PUBLIC   LIBRARY 

IN  1839,  Mr.  John  Jacob  Astor,  in  a  codicil  to  his  will, 
bequeathed  $400,000  for  the  erection  and  management 
of  a  public  library  for  the  city  of  New  York.  This 
library,  situated  at  40  Lafayette  Place  (later  called  425 
Lafayette  Street),  and  completed  in  1853,  four  years  after 
Mr.  Astor's  death,  was  the  first  free  public  institution  of 
the  kind  to  be  established  in  the  metropolis.  One  of  the 
original  board  of  nine  trustees  was  Washington  Irving, 
who  was  its  first,  and  for  the  remainder  of  his  life  its  only 
president.  The  resources  of  the  Astor  Library  were 
trebled  by  William  B.  Astor  and  his  grandsons;  an  adjoin- 
ing structure  was  added  to  the  original  building  by  the 
former  in  1859,  and  a  second  addition,  erected  by  John 
Jacob  Astor,  was  opened  in  1880.  The  charter  of  the 
Astor  Library  was  Chapter  I.  of  the  New  York  Laws  of 
1849.  Chapter  II.  of  the  Laws  of  1870  was  the  charter  of  a 
library  founded  by  James  Lenox,  an  old  and  wealthy 
New  Yorker  of  Scotch  extraction,  who  gave  for  this  purpose 
land,  a  library  building,  and  books  of  value,  amounting 
in  toto  to  two  million  dollars.  The  Lenox  Library  stood  on 
Fifth  Avenue  overlooking  Central  Park,  between  yoth 
and  7 ist  streets.  It  contained  many  rare  books,  maps,  and 
other  valuable  curiosities.  A  third  benefaction  to  the 
city  of  New  York  was  made  in  the  will  of  Samuel  J. 

288 


TKe  New  YorK  Public  Library          289 

Tilden,  leaving  the  residue  of  his  large  fortune  "to  estab- 
lish and  maintain  a  free  library  and  reading  room  in  the 
City  of  New  York, "  the  whole  matter  to  be  in  charge  of  a 
corporation  to  be  known  as  the  Tilden  Trust.  Upon  Mr. 
Tilden's  death  in  1886,  the  Tilden  Trust  was  duly  created 
by  the  Legislature,  but  after  a  long  dispute,  the  courts 
ultimately  decided  in  favour  of  Mr.  Tilden's  relatives. 

By  a  compromise  with  some  of  these,  however,  more  than 
two  million  dollars  of  Mr.  Tilden's  residuary  estate  were 
eventually  acquired  by  the  Trust,  together  with  a  library 
numbering  between  fifteen  and  twenty  thousand  volumes. 
Perceiving  that  Mr.  Tilden's  original  idea  of  a  great  free 
library  system  could  not  be  carried  out  with  these  means, 
his  trustees  began  to  cast  about  for  some  way  to  make  his 
good  will  to  the  public  an  accomplished  fact.  In  1892,  one 
year  after  the  decision  of  the  Court  of  Appeals,  an  act  of 
the  Legislature  was  passed  authorizing  consolidation  of 
libraries  in  New  York  City.  Many  difficulties  arose, 
however,  and  the  whole  matter  remained  pending  until 
the  spring  of  1895  when,  on  May  23,  1895,  the  agreement 
of  consolidation  of  the  Astor,  Lenox,  and  Tilden  founda- 
tions was  duly  executed.  By  this  agreement,  the  new 
corporation  came  into  possession  of  certain  vacant  and 
unproductive  land,  several  million  dollars'  worth  of  prop- 
erty producing  income,  and  a  collection  of  books  amount- 
ing to  about  350,000  volumes.  Nearly  half  the  annual 
income  had  to  be  expended  in  lighting,  heating,  cleaning, 
and  repairs,  leaving  but  little  for  the  purchase  of  books  and 
periodicals.  It  was  the  ambition  of  the  trustees  to  place 
the  New  York  Public  Library  upon  a  footing  with  the  'i 
British  Museum,  with  nearly  two  million  books,  or  the  ' 
Bibliotheque  Nationale  of  France,  with  its  three  million. 
To  do  this,  it  was  necessary  to  acquire  a  suitable  site  for 
a  new  building  of  large  dimensions,  to  induce  the  city  to 
undertake  its  construction,  and  to  find  some  man  of 
19 


290  JoKn  SHaw  Billings 

approved  experience  and  unusual  ability  to  act  as  its 
director  and  librarian.  On  November  26,  1895,  the  Execu- 
tive Committee  of  the  Board  of  Trustees,  which  included 
such  men  as  John  Bigelow,  John  S.  Kennedy,  John  L. 
Cadwalader,  George  L.  Rives,  S.  V.  R.  Cruger,  Lewis  Cass 
Ledyard,  and  Alexander  Maitland,  decided  in  council  that 
the  most  available  executive  for  the  great  object  in  view 
was  unquestionably  Dr.  John  S.  Billings,  and  Mr.  Cad- 
walader communicated  with  Dr.  Billings  to  this  effect  on 
the  following  day. 

The  story  of  Dr.  Billings' s  release  from  his  professorship 
in  the  University  of  Pennsylvania  has  already  been  told. 
On  January  15,  1896,  the  following  resolutions  were 
adopted  at  a  meeting  of  the  Executive  Committee  of  the 
Board  of  Trustees  of  the  New  York  Public  Library. 

Resolved,  That  this  Committee,  pursuant  to  the  power  and 
authority  conferred  upon  it  by  Resolution  of  the  Board  of 
Trustees,  adopted  December  n,  1895,  hereby  appoints  John 
S.  Billings,  M.D.,  LL.D.,  etc.,  Superintendent-in-Chief.  .  .  . 

Resolved,  That  Dr.  Billings  shall  only  be  required  to  attend 
in  New  York,  prior  to  June  I,  1896,  a  portion  of  the  time,  and 
upon  such  days  as  may  be  hereafter  arranged.  .  .  . 

Resolved,  That  the  Superintendent-in-Chief  be  requested  to 
examine  into  and  report  upon  the  condition  of  the  Libraries  of 
this  Corporation,  and  the  organization  and  conduct  of  the 
same,  with  such  recommendations  as  he  may  deem  expedient. 

Resolved,  That  the  Superintendent-in-Chief  be  requested  to 
examine  and  report  to  this  Committee  as  to  the  cost  of  intro- 
ducing electric  light  into  the  Astor  Library  Building,  or  some 
part  of  it,  during  longer  hours  or  in  the  evening. 

G.  L.  RIVES, 
Secretary. 

In  accordance  with  these  agreements,  Dr.  Billings  re- 
signed his  professorship  in  the  University  of  Pennsylvania 
on  June  1 ,  1 896,  and  after  spending  the  summer  in  Europe 


The  New  YorK  Public  Library          291 

to  attend  the  International  Conference  held  in  London 
under  the  auspices  of  the  Royal  Society,  to  consider  the 
project  of  a  general  Index  of  Scientific  Literature,  and 
incidentally  to  examine  into  the  methods  of  management 
of  the  larger  European  libraries,  he  took  up  his  residence 
in  New  York  City  in  September,  1896.  During  the  earlier 
part  of  this  year,  his  principal  duties  in  connection  with 
the  New  York  Library  consisted  in  planning  its  general 
administration  and  in  conferring  with  the  Committee  on 
Site  as  to  selecting  the  most  suitable  locality  for  construct- 
ing the  proposed  new  building.  By  an  agreement  between 
the  Astor  Library,  the  Lenox  Library,  and  the  Tilden 
Trust,  it  was  provided  in  substance  that  if  releases  of  the 
restrictions  affecting  the  property  of  the  Lenox  Library 
on  Fifth  Avenue  and  yoth  Street  could  be  delivered  to  the 
Board  of  Trustees,  then  that  property  should  be  selected 
as  the  site.  Upon  inquiry  into  this  matter,  it  was  found 
that  one  of  the  principal  Lenox  heirs  expressly  declined 
to  join  in  any  releases  freeing  the  property  from  these 
restrictions.  It  was  therefore  decided  on  February  5, 
1896,  that,  "in  view  of  its  central  location,  its  large  area, 
its  immunity  from  fire  and  its  convenience  of  access  from 
all  parts  of  the  city  and  suburbs, "  the  abandoned  Murray 
Hill  reservoir,  on  Fifth  Avenue  between  4Oth  and  42d 
streets,  which  for  over  fifty  years  had  been  part  of  the 
Croton  water  system,  should  be  selected  as  the  site  of  the 
principal  building,  and  that  application  should  be  made  to 
the  city  authorities  and  Legislature  for  such  enactment  as 
would  enable  the  city  to  furnish  this  site  for  the  purpose. 

In  arriving  at  a  conclusion  the  Committee  have  been  aided 
by  the  views  of  Dr.  Billings,  with  whom  they  have  discussed 
the  subject  at  length,  and  also  by  the  suggestions  of  a  number 
of  members  of  the  Board  who  were  invited  by  the  Committee 
to  confer  with  them. 


292  JoHn.  SHaw  Billings 

The  main  question  before  the  Committee  was  "the 
kind  of  library  to  be  established,  and  the  general  character 
and  scope  of  the  enterprise. "  If  the  Library  were  designed 
mainly  and  merely  for  the  convenience  of  scholars,  these 
would  consult  it  wherever  situated,  and  convenience  of 
access  would  be  of  little  moment  in  the  selection  of  a  site. 
But  if  a  circulating  or  lending  library,  for  the  use  of  the 
general  public,  rather  than  a  reference  library,  should  be 
desirable,  it  must  be  situated  in  a  central  locality.  The 
Committee  felt  that  if  the  New  York  Public  Library  were  to 
be  a  library  for  scholars  pure  and  simple,  the  public  would 
be  keenly  disappointed  and  the  library  itself  would  fail  of 
the  governmental  or  municipal  aid  extended  to  the  great 
collections  of  London,  Paris,  Washington,  and  Boston.  It 
was  therefore  decided  to  appeal  to  the  city  for  aid  in  se- 
curing a  site,  in  constructing  and  equipping  a  new  build- 
ing and  in  establishing  branch  circulating  libraries  to  be 
conveniently  located  throughout  the  city.  Thus  the  work- 
ing status  of  the  New  York  Public  Library,  even  in  its 
most  recent  phases,  was  planned  early  in  February,  1896. 

LETTERS    TO    MRS.    BILLINGS 

U.  S.  M.  S.  New  York,  Saturday,  June  20,  1896.  We  are 
about  1400  miles  from  New  York — clear  of  the  Banks — the 
sun  is  shining,  the  sea  is  as  level  as  a  floor  (more  level  than  our 
dining  room  floor  in  Chestnut  St.),  looks  like  a  sheet  of  blue 
ground  glass,  being  just  crinkled  a  little,  and  the  deck  is 
crowded  with  ladies  who  think  it  is  beautiful  sailing.  It  rained 
steadily  on  Wednesday  and  Thursday,  and  the  sea  has  been 
perfectly  smooth,  with  no  wind  except  that  made  by  the  motion 
of  the  steamer  herself,  and,  on  the  whole,  I  call  it  monotonous. 
For  the  first  two  days  out  the  few  teeth  I  have  left  made 
themselves  painfully  conspicuous,  and  I  had  to  avoid  all  food 
that  was  not  very  soft,  but  I  am  much  better  to-day  and  had  a 
good  sleep  last  night.  My  room-mate  is  Monsieur  Michel 
Revon,  Professor  of  Law  in  the  Imperial  University  at  Tokio, 


THe  New  YorK  Public  Library          293 

Japan,  and  seems  to  be  a  highly  educated  and  attractive 
Frenchman,  who  does  not  speak  much  English,  but  who  enter- 
tained me  for  two  hours  last  evening  with  an  account  of  some 
of  his  Japanese  adventures.  The  only  passengers  with  whom 
I  have  become  acquainted  are  two  doctors,  brothers,  named 
Fisk,  one  being  a  young  New  York  surgeon  and  the  other  living 
in  Denver.  There  are  three  pretty  girls  on  board  but  I  have 
not  spoken  to  any  woman  thus  far.  Miss  Delia  Fox  is  a 
passenger,  also  the  Hon.  Thomas  Ochiltree  who  won  the  pool 
to-day  on  the  steamer's  run.  .  .  .  By  this  time  I  suppose 
most  of  the  things  are  packed  up  and  you  are  living  in  the 
north  end  of  the  dining  room.  ...  I  am  reading  through  the 
ship's  library  at  the  rate  of  two  volumes  a  day,  to  the  disgust 
of  the  librarian  who  thinks  that  I  give  him  a  great  deal  of 
trouble. 

Wednesday,  June  24.  9  A.M.  Here  we  are  coasting  along 
the  shores  of  Devon — will  land  about  noon. 

37  Upper  Brook  Street,  Grosvenor  Square,  London.  June 
26.  C.  is  looking  very  well  indeed  and  has  been  out  all  the 
morning  with  me  superintending  my  shopping.  I  go  to  Morti- 
mer with  her  next  week  to  see  the  babies,  and  shall  then  prob- 
ably go  on  to  Oxford  for  a  few  days.  It  is  warm  and  the  sun  is 
shining,  and  I  am  going  with  C.  and  D.  this  afternoon  for  a 
ride  to  Richmond.  To-morrow,  I  begin  work  in  the  British 
Museum  and  among  the  booksellers.  I  landed  at  three  P.M. 
on  Wednesday  and  Dr.  Notter  was  on  the  dock  waiting  for  me. 
I  stayed  that  night  with  him  and  came  up  to  London  with  him 
yesterday  morning.  Had  a  long  and  pleasant  talk  this  morn- 
ing with  Mr.  Bayard,  who  has  just  received  his  D.  C.  L.  at 
Oxford  and  is  in  fine  spirits.  I  suppose  that  by  this  time  all 
your  packing  is  nearly  done,  and  no  doubt  the  decorators  are 
at  work  on  the  New  York  house. 

Oxford,  July  3.  I  find  Sir  Henry  very  well,  considering;  he 
seems  better  than  he  was  two  years  ago.  ...  I  dined  with 
the  Bruntons  on  Tuesday  last,  and  with  the  MacCormacs 
on  Wednesday. 


294  JoHn.  SHaw  Billings 

Manchester,  July  8.  I  am  here  for  two  days  with  Mr. 
Windsor,  who  is  convalescing  from  a  slight  fever  and  is  in  bed, 
but  not  really  very  ill.  I  was  three  days  at  Oxford  with  Sir 
Henry  Acland  and  had  a  very  pleasant  time.  He  is  better 
than  he  was  two  years  ago,  and  my  "English  Cousin"  is  also 
in  fair  condition  and  took  a  new  photograph  of  me  of  which  you 
are  to  have  a  copy.  Then  I  went  to  Birmingham,  saw  the 
Free  Library,  and  came  on  here.  To-morrow  I  go  to  Leeds, 
and  on  Saturday  return  to  London. 

Marketgate  House,  Crail  (Scotland).  July  25,  1896.  Here 
I  am  with  the  Chienes  in  the  old  house  at  Crail,  having  come 
over  from  Edinburgh  last  evening  to  spend  Sunday  with  them. 
.  .  .  Ella  is  here  with  her  husband,  Mr.  D.,  a  bright  young 
Englishman,  and  with  her  baby  "Hilda,"  who  has  a  temper 
and  views  of  her  own  on  many  points.  I  have  had  a  very 
successful  stay  of  three  days  in  Edinburgh,  having  picked  up 
over  500  volumes  of  pamphlets,  a  valuable  manuscript,  etc.  .  .  . 
To-morrow  I  go  to  Cambridge  via  London,  to  stay  with  Dr. 
Allbutt  until  Wednesday.  Then  I  go  to  London  and  dance 
attendance  on  C.'s  dentist  for  two  or  three  days,  at  the  end  of 
which  time  I  hope  that  I  may  be  able  to  eat  some  bread.  For 
the  last  week  I  have  subsisted  on  milk,  soft  boiled  eggs,  and 
Scotch  whiskey. 

Amsterdam.  August  4.  Professor  Langley  came  over  with 
me  from  London.  Chadwick  was  waiting  for  us  and  we  have 
had  a  good  time,  and  go  to  The  Hague  to-morrow  evening. 
I  have  had  a  most  successful  book  hunt  here  and  have  bought 
three  or  four  boxes  full,  including  some  very  rare  things  and 
some  wonderful  old  maps  of  America.  .  .  .  My  sore  jaw  is 
becoming  quite  free  from  pain,  and,  although  I  live  chiefly  on 
omelettes  and  fish,  I  am  very  comfortable.  ...  I  stayed 
with  the  Bruntons  last  Friday  and  Saturday.  Sunday  I  was 
with  Burdett  who  is  more  friendly  than  ever,  and  wants  me  to 
come  to  his  summer  place  when  I  get  back  to  England.  It  is 
down  in  Surrey. 


THe  New  "YorK  Pxiblic  Library-          295 

H6tel  de  la  Paix,  Ghent.  August  8.  Chadwick  and  I  are 
getting  on  well.  In  The  Hague  on  Wednesday,  Leyden  and 
Haarlem  on  Thursday,  Antwerp  yesterday,  and  to-day  we  are 
here  in  Ghent — an  interesting  old  Flemish  city.  We  walk 
about  among  the  old  book  stalls  until  we  are  thoroughly  tired, 
and  by  dinner  time,  are  quite  hungry.  To-morrow  we  go  to 
Bruges,  the  next  day  to  Brussels.  I  am  fairly  well,  and  enjoy- 
ing the  fun  which  Chadwick  makes.  For  two  days  we  have 
been  trying  to  find  a  cigar  that  we  can  smoke,  but  without 
success.  ...  I  begin  to  feel  very  much  like  getting  back,  I 
want  to  see  you  and  to  get  to  work  again,  but  I  have  four 
weeks  to  fill  out  before  I  can  start. 

H6tel  du  Grand  Monarque,  Brussels,  August  u.  Chadwick 
and  I  have  had  a  very  pleasant  week  in  the  Low  Countries, 
having  been  in  Amsterdam,  Haarlem,  Leyden,  The  Hague, 
Antwerp,  Ghent  and  Bruges.  We  have  walked  all  over  these 
places,  going  into  every  library  and  old  book  shop.  .  .  .  From 
here  we  shall  go  to  Louvain,  Charleroi  and  Namur,  and  reach 
Paris  on  the  iyth. 

n,  rue  Chardin,  Trocadero,  Paris.  August  16.  We  got  to 
Paris  last  night  and  this  morning  Dr.  Chadwick  went  to  the 
country  to  see  his  brother,  and  I  have  accepted  Mrs.  Very's 
invitation  to  stay  here  two  or  three  days.  Larry  Benet  and  his 
mother  live  just  around  the  corner  and  I  shall  be  very  much  at 
home.  I  have  a  great  deal  to  do  in  Paris  for  the  Library.  .  .  . 
Chadwick  is  a  delightful  travelling  companion,  and  the  loss  of 
his  trunk  has  not  made  him  a  bit  morose,  as  I  am  afraid  it 
would  have  done  me. 

Hinhead  School,  Shotter  Mill,  S.  O.  Surrey,  August  23.  Just 
arrived  here  at  Mr.  Burdett's  country  place  for  the  summer. 
...  I  had  a  pleasant  week  in  Paris,  stayed  with  Mrs.  Very, 
dining  somewhere  with  her,  Mr.  Benet  and  Dr.  Chadwick 
every  night.  I  intended  to  have  two  weeks  at  Swanage  and 
Salisbury  before  I  sailed,  but  I  found  here  a  letter  from  Mr. 
Bigelow,  requesting  me  to  examine  a  library  in  Berlin  if  possi- 


296  JoKn  SHaw  Billing's 

ble,  and  I  shall  telegraph  to  Berlin  in  the  morning  to  learn 
whether  it  is  accessible.  If  it  is,  I  shall  go,  and  that  will  take  a 
week,  so  that  I  shall  have  no  time  to  spare. 

Following  the  decision  of  the  Committee  on  Site  to 
obtain  the  ground  of  the  old  Murray  Hill  reservoir  as  the 
site  of  the  New  York  Public  Library,  serious  difficulties 
were  encountered  before  this  could  become  an  accomplished 
fact.  This  piece  of  ground  had  been  originally  a  part  of 
the  common  lands  of  the  city  of  New  York,  having  been 
granted  by  the  Crown  to  the  corporation,  under  the 
Dongan  Charter  of  1686.  Under  the  rulings  of  the  courts, 
the  State  had  no  power  to  dispose  of  this  land,  and,  under 
the  law,  the  Corporation  of  the  City  could  not  act  in  the 
matter  without  legislative  authority.  To  this  end,  a 
special  legislative  act  had  to  be  passed,  and  the  consent  of 
the  Mayor,  Aldermen,  and  Commonalty  of  the  City  ob- 
tained. After  long  deliberation  with  the  Board  of  Alder- 
men, the  city  authorities  finally  voted  for  the  removal  of 
the  reservoir  in  November,  1896.  To  get  the  city  to  under- 
take the  construction  of  the  library  building  another  act  of 
the  Legislature  was  necessary,  but  as  soon  as  the  city 
authorities  became  vested  with  this  power,  things  began 
to  move  rapidly,  and,  by  the  spring  of  1897,  two  years 
after  the  original  consolidation,  preparations  for  the 
architectural  competition  were  made.  During  the  first 
half  of  this  year,  Dr.  Billings,  in  company  with  Mr.  John 
L.  Cadwalader,  made  careful  examinations  of  many  of 
the  leading  libraries  of  the  United  States,  adding  to  his 
European  experiences  gained  in  the  preceding  summer; 
and  it  was  at  Atlantic  City  (April  5th)  that  he  roughed 
out  in  pencil,  as  the  basic  idea  for  the  architectural  com- 
petition, the  original  sketch  plan,  from  which  Professor 
William  Ware,  then  of  the  Department  of  Architecture, 
Columbia  University,  developed  the  further  plans.  This 


The  New  "YorK  Public  Library          297 

original  plan  of  the  first  floor  (350'  x  225')  corresponds 
closely  with  the  present  dimensions  (390'  x  270')  having, 
then  as  now,  the  main  entrance  on  Fifth  Avenue,  the  book 
stacks  in  the  rear,  the  current  periodicals  at  the  front,  with 
interior  courts  to  insure  an  abundance  of  light.  It  is 
characteristic  of  the  man  that  his  original  design  included 
a  children's  reading  room  to  the  left  of  the  main  entrance. 
Two  copies  of  Billings's  original  plan  in  pencil  exist ;  one  in 
his  private  note-book,  which  is  in  possession  of  his  family, 
the  other,  having  been  for  many  years  in  the  possession  of 
Professor  Ware,  was  finally  given  by  him  to  the  present 
Director,  Mr.  Edwin  H.  Anderson,  and  is  now  deposited 
in  the  vaults  of  the  Library. 

On  May  21,  1897,  the  Board  of  Trustees  of  the  Li- 
brary issued  a  proposal  for  the  architectural  competition, 
to  be  based  upon  the  diagrammatic  plans  drawn  up  by 
Professor  Ware  from  the  sketch  and  suggestions  made  by 
Dr.  Billings.  In  this  document,  the  Trustees  proposed 
to  obtain  plans  by  two  consecutive  competitions:  an  open 
one,  affording  sketches  from  New  York  men,  followed  by 
a  restricted  competition,  requiring  finished  drawings  for 
which  the  competitors  were  to  be  paid  $800  each.  The 
original  site  of  the  Bryant  Park  reservoir  was  a  plot  of 
ground  measuring  482'  x  455',  and  upon  this  the  Trustees 
proposed  to  put  up  a  thoroughly  fire-proof  building  meas- 
uring 225'  x  250'  to  cost  $1,700,000,  exclusive  of  heating, 
lighting,  ventilation,  furniture,  book  stacks,  and  shelving 
and  the  expenses  for  architects'  fees  and  the  removal  of 
the  reservoir.  The  committee  passing  upon  the  prelimin- 
ary competition  were  Professor  Ware,  Dr.  Billings,  and  Mr. 
Bernard  Green,  of  the  Library  of  Congress,  Washington, 
D.  C.  The  twelve  successful  competitors  received  a 
premium  of  $400  each,  and  these,  and  not  more  than  six 
other  persons  or  firms  named  by  the  Trustees,  were  then 
invited  to  take  part  in  the  second  competition,  the  com- 


298  JoHn.  SHaw  Billings 

petitors  receiving  $800  each  for  their  finished  drawings. 
These  drawings  were  adjudged  by  a  jury  of  seven,  con- 
sisting of  three  members  of  the  Board  of  Trustees,  the 
Director  (Dr.  Billings),  and  three  practising  architects  to 
be  chosen  by  the  competitors.  Eighty-eight  architects 
took  part  in  the  first  competition,  which  closed  on  July 
!5»  J897-  At  the  second  competition,  which  closed  on 
November  i,  1897,  the  jury  of  award  selected  three 
designs  as  being  the  most  meritorious,  and  from  these,  the 
Board  of  Trustees  selected  the  one  that  the  jury  had 
declared  to  be  the  best,  which  was  the  set  of  plans  sent 
in  by  the  late  John  Merven  Carrere  and  Thomas  Hastings, 
architects  of  New  York  City.  The  successful  plans  of 
Carrere  and  Hastings  were  submitted  to  the  Board  of 
Estimate  and  Apportionment  of  the  city  of  New  York, 
which,  by  resolution  of  December  i,  1897,  approved  them 
and  authorized  the  Department  of  Public  Parks  to  remove 
the  Bryant  Park  reservoir  and  to  construct,  maintain, 
equip,  and  furnish  a  suitable  fire-proof  building  after  the 
plans  approved.  On  December  6th,  the  Department  of 
Public  Parks  adopted  suitable  resolutions  for  the  construc- 
tion of  the  Library  building.  On  December  8th,  a  con- 
tract between  the  city  of  New  York  and  the  New  York 
Public  Library  was  duly  signed  and  sealed,  whereby  the 
city  agreed  to  construct  and  equip  the  building,  while  the 
Library  corporation  undertook,  on  its  part,  to  place  and 
arrange  its  entire  book  collections  in  the  building  as  soon 
as  practicable  after  completion  and  to  make  the  Library 
free  and  accessible  to  the  public  on  all  week-days  includ- 
ing holidays,with  a  free  circulating  branch  to  be  kept  open 
on  Sundays  and  all  other  evenings  until  at  least  ten  P.M. 
On  December  9,  1897,  the  Department  of  Public  Parks 
entered  into  a  formal  contract  with  Carrere  and  Hastings 
for  the  construction  and  equipment  of  the  building,  and 
the  work  was  now  ready  to  go  forward. 


TKe  New  "YorK  Public  Library  299 

On  February  16,  1898,  Messrs.  Carrere  and  Hastings, 
the  architects,  submitted  to  the  Department  of  Public 
Parks  the  necessary  form  of  contract  for  removing  the 
reservoir  and  disposing  of  the  debris,  which  was  approved 
on  March  3d  and  submitted  to  the  Board  of  Estimate 
and  Apportionment,  with  a  requisition  requesting  the 
sale  of  bonds  to  the  amount  of  $150,000,  on  March  13, 
1898. 

Meanwhile,  Billings  was  settling  down  to  the  gigantic 
labours  of  supervising  the  reclassification  and  recatalogu- 
ing  of  the  books  and  pamphlets  and  their  rearrangement 
on  the  shelves,  in  which  he  soon  attained  his  customary 
vigorous  stride.  It  was  necessary  to  make  a  complete 
reclassification  and  a  complete  new  catalogue  of  the  entire 
collection,  substituting  for  the  "fixed  location"  by  which 
books  had  formerly  been  classified  in  both  the  Astor  and 
Lenox  Libraries  a  "relative  classification"  by  which  books 
were  classified  by  subject  and  arranged  in  groups  that 
were  independent  of  the  numbering  of  the  shelves  on 
which  they  happened  for  the  moment  to  stand.  The 
scheme  of  classification  was  blocked  out  by  Dr.  Billings 
with  particular  reference  to  the  character  of  the  collec- 
tions owned  by  the  Library,  and  is  substantially  the 
scheme  still  used  in  it.  The  catalogues  at  the  time  of 
consolidation  existed  partly  in  print,  partly  in  manuscript, 
partly  on  cards  of  standard  size,  partly  on  cards  of  smaller 
size,  partly  on  cards  of  three  different  larger  sizes;  in  no 
one  place  was  there  a  complete  author  or  subject  record 
of  all  the  books  owned  by  the  library.  Dr.  Billings  began 
a  systematic  recataloguing  of  the  entire  collection  on  a 
uniform  plan,  making  an  author  catalogue  for  official  use; 
and,  for  public  use,  making,  as  he  had  done  for  the  Sur- 
geon-General's collection,  an  "index  catalogue"  of  authors 
and  subjects  arranged  in  one  alphabet,  a  "dictionary 
catalogue."  All  this  he  managed  in  his  cool,  deliberate 


3OO  JoHn  SHaw  Billings 

way,  ohne  Hast,  ohne  Rast,  and  in  his  report  for  the  fiscal 
year  1897-98,  he  was  already  able  to  make  a  goodly  show- 
ing of  work  done.  The  consolidation  of  the  collection 
of  musical  literature  and  the  collection  of  Bibles,  the 
reclassifi cation  of  the  Hebrew  collection  (Schiff  Fund) ,  the 
cataloguing  of  the  manuscripts,  incunabula,  and  maps, 
the  indexing  of  special  periodicals,  independently  and  in 
co-operation  with  other  libraries,  were  among  the  features 
of  the  work.  He  was  especially  interested  in  completing 
the  files  of  old  periodicals  and  transactions  of  societies,  to 
which  6994  volumes  were  added  during  the  year.  In 
June,  1898,  there  were  some  457,143  books  and  119,512 
pamphlets  in  the  Library,  of  which  about  45,000  volumes 
were  periodicals.  Of  these,  a  careful  selection  was  made 
for  indexing. 

During  this  busy  year,  as  later,  he  took  an  active  part 
in  all  the  social  diversions  and  functions  into  which  he  was 
drawn,  dining  out,  giving  talks  before  various  societies, 
and  attending  the  social  gatherings  of  the  Round  Table 
and  other  clubs.  In  June  of  this  year  (1898),  he  had  his 
first  experience  with  Canadian  fishing,  sojourning  with 
Weir  Mitchell  and  Cadwalader  at  the  Cascapedia  Club. 

TO  MRS.   BILLINGS 

June  27,  1898.  It  is  one  P.M.  Weir  Mitchell  and  myself,  in 
our  shirt  sleeves,  are  resting  after  three  hours'  work  in  a  canoe 
on  the  river,  during  which  he  caught  two  salmon  weighing  23 
and  27  Ibs.  respectively,  and  I  caught  one  salmon  weighing  28 
Ibs.  and  two  trout,  being  my  first  experience  in  this  kind  of 
sport.  My  right  arm  aches  and  I  can't  write  that  beautiful 
copper  plate  hand  which  you  admire  so  much,  but  I  feel  very 
fine,  and  several  inches  larger  in  every  direction.  Mr.  Cad- 
walader has  just  left  for  New  York,  so  Mitchell  and  I  are  alone 
together  for  a  week.  He  is  much  better,  and  is  fairly  cheerful, 
joining  in  talk  like  his  old  self.  It  is  a  beautiful  wild  river,  the 


THe  New  YorK  Public  Library          301 

shore  opposite  the  little  club  house  rises  abruptly  in  bold  hills 
covered  with  pine,  cedar,  birch  and  beech  trees.  I  have  tried 
to  make  a  little  sketch  of  the  outline  at  the  head  of  this  note. 
Mitchell  has  an  universally  accomplished  coloured  man, 
Daniel,  who  is  an  excellent  cook,  and  who  looks  after  us  on 
shore,  and  two  boatmen  who  take  us  out  in  the  canoe.  The 
coffee,  eggs,  and  griddle  cakes  this  morning  were  fine.  I 
wanted  two  blankets  over  me  last  night,  and  when  I  got  out  of 
my  cold  bath  this  morning  I  danced  around  very  lively  to  get 
warm  while  I  was  dressing.  Day  after  to-morrow  Mitchell  and 
I  are  going  up  the  river  about.  14  miles,  taking  the  indispensable 
Daniel,  and  camp  for  three  days. 

He  visited  England  during  the  summer : 

TO   SIR  HENRY  W.  ACLAND    (OXFORD) 

September  27,  1898.  We  arrived  yesterday  morning  after  a 
ten  days'  voyage  which  was  smooth,  but  rather  monotonous. 
The  principal  talk  among  the  physicians  here  just  now  is  with 
regard  to  the  great  amount  of  sickness  which  has  been  pre- 
vailing among  our  volunteer  troops — not  so  much  among 
those  who  went  out  of  the  country  as  among  those  who  were 
in  camps  within  the  limits  of  the  United  States.  I  was  this 
morning  in  a  large  ward  full  of  typhoid  fever  cases  coming 
from  a  camp  in  this  vicinity,  and  can  only  think  that  there  has 
been  great  want  of  proper  management.  Of  course  I  find  a 
great  pile  of  work  awaiting  me — but  I  am  glad  of  it — for  I  feel 
like  doing  something — having  had  a  good  rest.  A  Japanese 
architect  from  Tokyo  is  here  wanting  information  about 
library  plans — as  they  are  about  to  erect  a  national  library  at 
Tokyo — and  brings  me  a  letter  from  Tanaka  the  librarian. 

The  year  1900  was  taken  up  with  the  question  of  the 
consolidation  of  the  numerous  free  circulating  libraries  of 
the  city  with  the  New  York  Public  Library,  correspondence 
on  this  matter  having  been  opened  with  the  Comptroller 
Mr.  Bird  S.  Coler,  on  June  2Oth.  Dr.  Billings  was  re- 


3O2  JoKn  SHaw  Billings 

quested  by  the  Finance  Department  of  the  city  to  under- 
take an  investigation  of  these  libraries,  and  his  report  of 
September  I5th  gave  a  tabulated  statement  of  the  status 
of  the  fourteen  libraries  concerned,  with  the  exception  of 
that  of  the  Mechanics'  Institute,  which  was  withheld  for 
technical  reasons.  Acting  upon  this  report,  the  Executive 
Committee  of  the  Library  recommended  that  the  munici- 
pal authorities  of  the  city  should  make  appropriation  for 
these  free  libraries  under  such  conditions  and  restrictions 
as  would  insure  a  much-needed  centralization  and  organi- 
zation with  satisfactory  supervision  and  accountability. 
In  due  course,  consolidation  was  effected  with  the  New 
York  Free  Circulating  Library,  with  eleven  branches;  the 
Washington  Heights  Free  Library;  the  St.  Agnes  Library; 
the  New  York  Free  Circulating  Library  for  the  Blind ;  the 
Aguilar  Free  Library,  with  four  branches;  the  Harlem 
Library;  the  Tottenville  Library;  the  Library  of  the  Uni- 
versity Settlement ;  the  Webster  Free  Library ;  the  Cathe- 
dral Free  Circulating  Library,  with  five  branches,  being 
nearly  all  the  circulating  libraries  of  the  city.  This  en- 
largement for  the  public  good  was  to  receive  a  new  impetus 
through  the  generosity  of  Mr.  Andrew  Carnegie  who, 
on  March  12,  1901,  sent  the  following  letter  to  Dr. 
Billings : 

DEAR  DR.  BILLINGS: 

Our  conference  upon  the  needs  of  Greater  New  York  for 
Branch  Libraries  to  reach  the  masses  of  the  people  in  every 
district  has  convinced  me  of  the  wisdom  of  your  plans. 

Sixty-five  branches  strike  one  at  first  as  a  very  large  order, 
but  as  other  cities  have  found  one  necessary  for  every 
sixty  or  seventy  thousand  of  population,  the  number  is  not 
excessive. 

You  estimate  the  average  cost  of  these  libraries  at,  say 
$80,000  each,  being  $5,200,000  for  all.  If  New  York  will 
furnish  sites  for  these  branches  for  the  special  benefit  of  the 


The  New  TorK  Public  Library  303 

masses  of  the  people,  as  it  has  done  for  the  Central  Library, 
and  also  agree  in  satisfactory  form  to  provide  for  their  main- 
tenance as  built,  I  should  esteem  it  a  rare  privilege  to  be  per- 
mitted to  furnish  the  money  as  needed  for  the  buildings,  say, 
$5,200,000.  Sixty-five  libraries  at  one  stroke  probably  breaks 
the  record,  but  this  is  the  day  of  big  operations  and  New  York 
is  soon  to  be  the  biggest  of  cities. 

Very  truly  yours, 

(Signed)  ANDREW  CARNEGIE. 

On  April  26,  1901,  the  Legislature  of  the  State  of  New 
York  passed  an  act  authorizing  the  city  authorities  to 
acquire  sites  for  free  branch  public  libraries,  to  enter  into 
contracts  with  Mr.  Carnegie  or  his  representatives  for  the 
erection  and  equipment  of  the  separate  library  buildings, 
and  to  provide  for  the  maintenance  of  all  the  free  public 
libraries  attached  to  the  Central  Library.  This  agreement 
was  signed  by  the  Mayor  of  New  York,  Mr.  Robert  A. 
Van  Wyck  and  by  Mr.  John  Bigelow,  President  of  the 
New  York  Public  Library.  As  the  boroughs  of  Brooklyn 
and  Queens  were  not  willing  to  have  their  share  of  the 
original  sixty-five  branch  buildings  erected  and  adminis- 
tered by  the  New  York  Public  Library,  the  selection  of 
architects,  constructive  and  administrative  details  in  this 
case  were  left  to  the  Brooklyn  Public  Library  and  the 
Queens  Borough  Library,  respectively.  On  November  yth, 
general  agreement  relative  to  the  construction  of  free 
library  buildings  in  the  boroughs  of  Manhattan,  Bronx,  and 
Richmond  was  entered  into  with  the  architects,  Babb, 
Cook  &  Willard,  Carrere  &  Hastings,  and  McKim,  Mead 
&  White.  By  1911,  thirty-two  of  these  branch  libraries 
had  been  completed  and  opened  to  the  public,  and  at 
present  there  are  in  operation  forty-two  branch  libraries, 
thirty-seven  of  which  have  been  erected  for  Manhattan, 
the  Bronx,  and  Richmond  from  the  funds  provided  by 
Mr.  Carnegie. 


304  JoHn  SKa-w   Billings 

LETTERS  TO  MRS.   BILLINGS 

Windsor  Hotel,  Montreal,  June  9, 1900.  There  are  about  400 
librarians  here  and  probably  there  never  were  so  many  people 
together  so  thoroughly  satisfied  with  their  own  knowledge. 

August  7.  I  have  just  had  an  interview  with  an  elderly,  thin 
lady  in  black,  who  declined  to  give  her  name.  She  wanted 
instructions  as  to  how  to  word  a  clause  in  her  will  to  leave  a 
small  sum  of  money  to  increase  the  musical  collection  at  the 
Lenox,  and  went  away  quite  decided  to  do  it. 

November  7.  Yesterday  morning,  after  voting,  I  went  with 
Mr.  Cadwalader  to  Yonkers,  from  which  place  we  walked  to 
the  Schuyler's  (5  miles)  and  got  lunch.  I  came  back  to  dinner 
with  John  and  K.  and  at  nine  P.M.  we  went  up  to  Madison 
Square  and  thence  up  Broadway  to  see  the  election  bulletins. 
It  was  an  enormous  crowd,  very  noisy,  but  well  behaved.  You 
should  have  seen  M. — the  dignified  one — with  K.  marching 
along,  blowing  tin  horns  with  which  John  had  provided  them, 
and  being  pushed  out  of  the  way  of  cabs  and  street  cars  in  the 
most  unceremonious  way.  This  morning  the  paper  is  very 
interesting  and  it  is  delightful  to  know  that  the  country  is  safe. 

January  18,  1901.  This  morning  I  was  at  the  Bruce  Library 
(42d  St.  and  7th  Avenue)  at  9  o'clock  to  meet  some  of  the  new 
librarians  and  get  things  started  there.  .  .  .  To-morrow  Mr. 
Putnam,  of  the  Congressional  Library,  will  lunch  with  me,  and 
I  have  three  libraries  to  visit.  Also,  I  have  to  go  and  try  to  beg 
off  from  serving  on  the  grand  jury.  So  you  see  I  do  not  lack 
occupation. 

January  30.  It  is  snowing  hard  (6:50  P.M.)  and  may  turn 
into  a  blizzard.  We  got  the  library  plans  approved  to-day  by 
the  Board  of  Estimate,  and  an  appropriation  of  $2,850,000 
was  made,  so  we  have  got  past  that  sticking  point  at  last. 

February  10.  Mr.  Charles  Stewart  Smith  is  going  to  give 
the  Library  a  large  and  valuable  collection  of  Japanese  coloured 


THe  New  YorK  Public  Library  305 

prints,  of  which  we  will  make  an  exhibit  at  the  Lenox  next 
month.  I  went  with  him  to  the  Lenox  to  arrange  the  business 
yesterday  morning.  It  was  snowing.  I  went  down  on  a  crowded 
Madison  Avenue  car,  and  on  the  way,  some  dexterous  thief 
stole  my  watch.  I  am  sorry,  but  it  was  too  fine  a  watch  for  a 
man  in  my  station  in  life  and  a  $5.00  watch  will  serve  me  just 
as  well. 

February  17.  I  am  very  sorry  to  hear  of  Dr.  Busey's1  death, 
but  life  has  been  a  burden  to  him  for  the  last  two  or  three  years, 
and  I  think  he  was  glad  to  be  done  with  it. 

February  20.  I  am  busy  getting  papers  and  reports  together 
for  the  grand  consolidation  meeting  next  Monday,  when  the 
New  York  Public  Library  and  the  Free  Circulating  Library 
are  to  be  finally  mixed,  new  rules  adopted,  etc.  I  am  also 
making  some  sketches  for  the  location  of  furniture  in  the  rooms 
of  the  new  building.  ...  I  am  making  a  collection  of  the 
London  illustrated  papers  and  some  others  relating  to  the 
Queen's  funeral,  and  think  it  will  make  an  interesting  historical 
volume. 

June  7.  It  has  been  quite  "summery"  here  since  you  left. 
...  I  dined  at  the  Century  Wednesday  and  Thursday,  and 
found  about  twenty  other  men  like  myself,  abandoned  by  wife 
and  children  for  the  summer.  One  of  them  said,  as  I  came  in, 
"  Here's  Dr.  Billings.  Summer  has  come,  sure ! " 

June  22.  I  have  to  give  a  lecture  on  vital  statistics  next 
Saturday  and  am  closing  up  the  Library  business  for  the  fiscal 
year,  which  ends  June  30,  so  that  I  am  busy ;  and  I  am  glad  it  is 
so,  for  it  would  be  rather  lonely  here  if  I  did  not  have  plenty  of 
work. 

July  20.  Cadwalader  is  better,  not  out  of  danger  by  any 
means,  and  John  feels  cheerful  over  his  prospects.  Mitchell 

1  Dr.  Samuel  C.  Busey,  a  worthy  practitioner  of  the  old  school  in  Wash- 
ington, D.  C. 


306  JoHn.  SHa-w  Billings 

proposes  to  take  him  to  Bar  Harbour  when  he  is  strong — say 
in  about  two  weeks — and  Pierpont  Morgan  has  offered  the  use 
of  his  yacht,  the  Corsair,  for  this  purpose. 

R.  M.  S.  Teutonic,  August  I.  Wednesday  morning  I  got 
to  my  office  early,  found  many  things  to  be  attended  to,  but 
finally  got  on  board  feeling  very  much  used  up.  .  .  . 

Grand  Hotel,  London,  August  9.  There  does  not  seem  to  be 
one  of  my  old  friends  in  London  and  I  am  almost  reduced  to 
sightseeing,  to  pass  the  time  until  I  finish  what  little  business 
I  have  here.  .  .  .  To-day,  I  have  poked  around  among  the 
book  shops,  and  went  from  St.  Paul's  to  the  Marble  Arch  in 
the  "tup'ny  tube,"  which  is  the  deep  underground  railway 
and  is  certainly  well  worth  seeing.  You  go  down  in  a  "lift" 
about  60  feet  to  get  to  it.  The  cars  are  exactly  like  those  on 
the  elevated  R.R.  in  N.  Y.  and  the  fare  is  two  pence,  no  matter 
where  you  go,  which  is  like  our  five  cent  fare.  The  engines  are 
electric  and  the  whole  thing  is  well  ventilated.  ...  I  got  a 
note  from  Weir  Mitchell  this  morning  in  which  he  says,  "If 
pernickity  crossness  be  a  sign  of  returning  health,  he  ought  to 
be  soon  well. "  From  which  I  infer  that  Cadwalader  is  making 
things  lively  for  them.  ...  As  yet  I  have  not  found  any 
new  books,  and  there  is  no  news  in  the  newspapers,  except 
comments  on  the  closing  scenes  in  Parliament,  which  is  just 
finishing  the  appropriation  bills  so  that  the  members  can  get  to 
the  grouse  moors  by  next  Monday,  which  is  the  twelfth  of 
August,  when  the  shooting  begins. 

TO  MISS  ACLAND  (OXFORD) 

September  5,  1901.  I  had  an  interesting  trip  to  Scotland — 
spent  several  days  with  Mr.  Carnegie,  at  what  is  known  as 
Skibo  Castle,  not  far  from  Dornoch,  on  Dornoch  Firth.  Was 
duly  awakened  every  morning  at  seven  thirty  by  the  bag- 
pipes played  under  my  window,  and  marched  solemnly  into 
dinner  every  evening  to  the  strains  of  the  same  ferocious  instru- 
ment. .  .  .  From  Skibo  I  went  to  a  moor  in  Forfarshire,  near 
Edzell,  where  several  of  my  New  York  friends  were  having  a 


THe  New  York  Public  Library          307 

good  time  shooting  grouse.  The  scenery  was  fine,  the  weather 
the  same,  and  I  tramped  about,  getting  thoroughly  tired  and 
exceedingly  hungry  as  I  followed  the  sportsmen  and  watched 
the  shooting  of  each  man  with  a  critically  ignorant  eye. 

TO  MRS.   BILLINGS 

New  York,  April  12,  1902.  We  had  the  staff  meeting  at  the 
Astor  last  evening.  I  shall  get  to  Washington  Monday  evening 
just  in  time  for  a  committee  meeting,  which  will  probably  last 
until  10:30  P.M.  Most  of  my  time  seems  to  be  spent  in 
committee  meetings  or  in  getting  ready  for  them.  I  have  iust 
finished  one  which  lasted  two  hours,  and  in  ten  minutes  am 
going  to  another. 

June  9.  The  city  authorities  have  given  us  three  sites,  one 
on  East  Broadway,  one  on  Amsterdam  Avenue  near  69th,  and 
one  in  the  Bronx — i4Oth  Street.  I  hope  to  get  a  meeting  of  the 
Special  Committee  to-morrow  evening,  and  get  at  least  one 
more  site. 

July  i ,  1902.  To-morrow  afternoon  is  the  formal  opening  of 
the  new  library  at  Irvington,  with  my  pupil,  Miss  Townsend, 
as  librarian.  I  shall  go  up,  if  I  can,  and  then  go  to  the  Schuy- 
ler's.  It  is  called  the  "Guiteau  Library."  I  should  want  to 
change  the  name  if  I  were  there.  I  read  Scarlet  and  Hyssop  on 
my  way  down.  If  that  is  anything  like  a  fair  picture  of  Eng- 
lish higher  society,  it  is  very  bad.  I  don't  know  many  women 
or  much  about  them,  but  I  never  met  anyone  like  the  women 
Benson  describes. 

July  7.  You  are  right  in  saying  that  I  have  not  much 
sporting  blood.  I  have  never  seen  a  horse  race  or  a  prize  fight, 
and  don't  feel  any  wish  to  see  one  nowadays.  Plenty  of  books 
and  papers  is  the  only  essential  for  me. 

July  21.  My  visit  to  Woods  Hole  was  a  good  thing.  I 
explained  the  Carnegie  proposition  to  several  of  the  trustees. 
They  had  a  meeting  on  Saturday,  and  I  have  just  received  a 


308  JoHn  SKa-w   Billings 

telegram  saying  that  the  proposition  is  unanimously  accepted, 
so  that  the  Carnegie  trustees  will  have  at  least  one  thing 
settled  when  they  meet. 

July  23.  I  have  received  from  the  Census  Office  Mr.  King's 
two  volumes  on  vital  statistics,  about  which  I  promised  Mr. 
Merriam  to  write  something.  It  is  going  to  be  a  difficult  piece 
of  work  for  me,  for  I  have  not  thought  about  such  subjects 
for  several  years,  but  it  must  be  done  somehow.  ...  I  am 
glad  that  O'Reilly  is  to  be  the  next  Surgeon-General — in 
September. 

August  6.  The  Higher  Cult  is  stuff  and  nonsense — a  mixture 
of  theosophy,  Christian  Science,  etc.  Have  nothing  to  do  with 
them. 

August  12.  Yesterday,  Carrere,  Hastings  and  myself  had 
a  little  private  cornerstone  laying,  setting  the  first  block  of 
marble  on  the  new  building  on  the  N.  W.  corner.  I  took  the 
trowel,  spread  the  bed  of  mortar  a  little,  Hastings  dropped 
a  new  ten  cent  piece  (1902)  into  it,  down  came  the  stone,  I 
tapped  it  three  times  with  a  hammer  and  said — "May  this 
building  be  all  that  the  builders,  the  architects,  the  trustees, 
and  the  people  of  New  York  hope  and  expect."  The  formal 
cornerstone  laying  will  occur  in  the  fall,  but  we  have  got  block 
No.  i  into  place,  and  by  the  time  you  return,  I  hope  there  will 
be  quite  a  little  line  of  wall  for  you  to  see. 

Bar  Harbor,  August  24.  Mitchell  is  very  well  and  much 
interested  in  something  he  is  writing  about  Braddock's  defeat. 
I  don't  know  whether  it  is  a  story  or  not,  but  he  has  a  dozen 
volumes  of  history  and  biography,  which  he  consults  fre- 
quently, and  the  long  rainy  day  yesterday  suited  him  exactly 
— he  must  have  written  for  at  least  six  hours. 

October  10.  At  the  Library  Club  yesterday  afternoon,  the 
disinfection  of  books  was  the  main  subject,  and  the  experi- 
ments I  had  made  with  formalin  while  we  were  in  Philadelphia, 
were  the  main  facts  produced. 


TKe  New  TorK  Public  Library          309 

June  5,  1903.  Got  1200  volumes  for  the  Century1  from 
Stoddard's  legacy,  but  nothing  of  any  special  value.  Still  I 
will  show  them  to-morrow  at  the  monthly  meeting.  I  think 
Mr.  Stedman  took  the  best  of  the  poetry. 

June  12.  I  have  finished  the  first  part  of  my  work  on  plans 
and  specifications  for  book  stacks  and  shelving,  and  have 
turned  it  over  to  the  copyists.  Now  I  am  considering  lists  of 
over  ten  thousand  modern  books  in  English,  in  all  departments 
of  knowledge,  and  marking  the  5000  that  I  think  would  be 
best  suited  for  stocking  a  circulating  library.  It  is  interesting 
but  fatiguing  work,  and  after  an  hour  of  it,  I  find  it  absolutely 
necessary  to  turn  to  something  else.  Our  report  on  the  drink 
question  for  the  Committee  of  Fifty  is  out  at  last — in  two 
volumes.  This  morning  the  only  thing  talked  about  is  the 
killing  of  the  King  and  Queen  of  Servia,  the  general  opinion 
seeming  to  be  that  they  deserve  it.  Everything  in  the  Library 
about  Servia  is  being  called  for. 

June  25.  Dr.  Folsom  came  in  last  evening.  He  is  full  of 
enthusiasm  about  the  new  Harvard  Medical  School,  with  its 
Hospital,  which  is  to  be  the  finest  in  the  world. 

June  29.  I  have  an  urgent  letter  from  Mr.  Putnam  of  the 
Library  of  Congress,  desiring  me  to  be  chairman  of  an  import- 
ant committee  and  to  agree  to  be  at  the  meeting  of  the  British 
Library  Association  at  Leeds  on  September  7. 

H6tel  Bristol,  Paris,  July  28.  The  International  Biblio- 
graphical Institute  in  Brussels  has  a  card  catalogue  about 
twice  as  big  as  the  card  catalogue  of  the  Astor  Library,  but 
no  books.  They  expect  people  to  write  to  them  asking  for  the 
titles  of  all  books  on  a  particular  subject  and  pay  for  having 
the  list  copied,  and  then  the  writer  is  to  find  the  books  as  best 
he  can.  I  don't  think  it  will  be  used  enough  to  pay  for  the 
expense  of  keeping  it  up.  ...  I  expect  to  get  to  Naples  a  week 
from  to-morrow.  ...  I  hope  to  see  Vesuvius  in  eruption, 
but  this  morning's  Paris  Herald  says  the  eruption  is  dying  out. 

1  The  Century  Club. 


3IO  JoHn  SHa-w  Billing's 

August  i .  I  had  a  very  pleasant  and  instructive  hour  with 
the  Curies  (Professor  and  Madame  Curie)  in  their  Laboratory, 
where  they  showed  me  some  curious  effects  of  radium.  They 
had  heard  that  radium  had  been  discovered  in  a  mine  in  the 
U.  S.,  and  were  anxious  to  know  about  it,  but  I  could  tell  them 
nothing. 

Hotel  Royal  Danielli,  Venice.  August  9.  I  was  made  happy 
last  night  by  the  receipt  of  your  two  letters  of  August  3d, 
which  assured  me  of  your  safe  arrival  at  St.  Briac.  With 
them  came  one  from  President  Eliot  of  Harvard,  requesting 
me  to  serve  on  a  committee  to  advise  as  to  what  is  to  be  done 
about  the  Library  of  the  University.  ...  I  spent  consider- 
able time  yesterday  in  the  Royal  Library  of  St.  Mark.  The 
librarian  was  very  courteous,  showed  me  some  curious  old 
books,  and  we  arranged  for  a  system  of  exchange  of  duplicates 
which  I  hope  will  result  in  something.  To-morrow  I  go  to  the 
Castello  di  Brazza,  in  the  mountains  near  Udine. 

Castello  di  Brazza.  August  n.  This  is  a  queer  place, 
about  a  thousand  years  old.  Count  di  Brazza  is  very  proud  of 
his  family  records  and  showed  me  this  morning  some  manu- 
script accounts  and  grants  dating  from  1325.  The  old  stone 
castle  is  mostly  in  ruins,  but  the  house  in  which  they  live  is  a 
large  rambling  place  about  600  years  old  and  is  crammed  with 
antiquities  and  curiosities  of  all  sorts.  It  would  take  a  week  to 
look  at  them  all.  The  Countess  di  Brazza  was  a  Miss  Day  of 
New  Orleans.  She  is  very  proud  of  her  husband  and  his  family, 
but  her  main  interest  seems  to  be  in  organizing  schools  for 
teaching  the  peasant  girls  to  make  lace.  She  has  nine  of  these 
going  now,  and  I  saw  the  work  of  some  of  them  at  the  Province 
(or  county)  fair  which  is  now  going  on  at  Udine,  which  is  an 
hour's  ride  from  here.  On  one  side  the  place  has  a  view  for 
30  miles  over  a  flat  plain  looking  toward  the  Adriatic,  on  the 
other  side  are  the  mountains  about  10  miles  away. 

Baur  au  Lac,  Zurich.  August  17.  I  find  notes  here  saying 
that  two  of  the  men  I  want  to  meet  on  Carnegie  business  will 
be  here  to-morrow,  another  one  on  Wednesday,  and  the  Naples 


The  New  YorK  Public  Library  311 

professor,  Dr.  Dohrn,  probably  on  Friday.    Until  I  have  seen 
some  of  these  scientists,  I  cannot  tell  just  what  I  shall  do. 

Zurich,  August  19,  1903.  This  is  the  best  place  for  me  I 
have  been  in  since  I  left  England.  I  have  had  long  walks  and 
seen  much  of  the  people  and  things  I  wanted  to  see,  and  feel 
very  well  indeed.  But  I  am  tired  of  vacation.  The  most 
interesting  thing  here  to  me  is  Dr.  Haviland  Field's  Concilium 
Bibliographicum  Zoologicum  which  is  an  index  of  all  literature 
relating  to  zoology  and  palaeontology  made  on  cards,  very 
much  like  the  Index  Catalogue  of  the  Surgeon-General's  Office, 
which  has  been  taken  as  a  sort  of  pattern.  Dr.  Field  wants 
the  Carnegie  Institution  to  help  him  out,  claiming  that  he  is 
spending  $2000  per  year  more  than  he  gets  and  that  he  must 
stop  if  he  don't  get  help.  He  employs  three  women  indexers, 
a  printer,  and  two  boys.  One  of  the  women  was  very  bright, 
reminding  me  of  Miss  Eger  at  the  Astor,  and  greatly  interested 
in  having  me  see  all  the  details  of  how  she  does  her  work.  If 
the  Institution  were  at  Washington  or  in  New  York  I  should 
not  hesitate  about  recommending  it  for  a  grant,  but  to  sub- 
sidize it  in  Switzerland  is  a  doubtful  matter.  But  it  is  doing 
really  first  class  work.  I  have  also  spent  several  hours  in  the 
great  technical  school  for  Switzerland  which  is  located  here, 
and  which  has  especially  fine  laboratories.  One  building  is 
devoted  entirely  to  testing  building  materials  as  to  strength, 
etc.,  with  apparatus  for  testing  stone,  bricks,  iron,  wood,  etc. 
Another  thing  here  that  has  pleased  me  much  is  an  office  for 
public  information  maintained  by  the  city.  I  have  been  there 
three  times,  the  Director  speaks  several  languages  and  is  able 
to  answer  almost  any  question  about  any  town  or  institution 
in  Switzerland.  There  are  all  sorts  of  directories,  reports  of 
universities,  statistics,  etc.  It  has  given  me  some  ideas  about 
such  a  bureau  in  the  new  Library,  for  New  York. 

August  22.  I  had  a  pleasant  and  instructive  day  at  Berne. 
Kronecker  *  was  very  nice  and  went  about  with  me  everywhere 

'Hugo  Kronecker  (1839-1914),  late  professor  of  physiology  at  the 
University  of  Berne. 


312  JoHti  SKa-w   Billings 

— statistical  bureaux,  libraries,  laboratories,  etc.  His  wife  and 
daughters  were  away.  ...  I  have  now  definitely  learned  that 
in  no  European  laboratory  is  there  any  calorimeter  as  good  as 
Atwater's,  to  keep  a  man  in  for  a  week.  Gamgee  and  Kro- 
necker  agree  on  this,  and  Gamgee  will  fully  describe  the  four 
which  exist  in  Germany,  Austria  and  Switzerland,  so  I  feel 
satisfied  with  what  I  can  report  on  this  point.  I  can  also  make 
a  good  report  about  physical  laboratories.  ...  I  think  that 
Leeds  will  be  a  bore.  It  is  something  like  Jersey  City  and  I 
should  certainly  not  go  there  if  I  did  not  have  to.  I  expect  to 
meet  Herbert  Putnam  in  London  on  the  morning  of  Septem- 
ber 5th  and  settle  as  to  the  form  of  invitation  to  be  given  to  the 
British  Library  Association. 

H6tel  Ville  de  Paris,  Strassburg.  August  25.  I  have  spent 
the  day  in  the  University  Library,  in  many  respects  the  best 
arranged  one  I  have  seen  in  Europe.  It  has  about  800,000 
volumes,  and  some  excellent  ideas  about  catalogue  room  and 
delivery  desk.  I  shall  have  to  stay  over  here  to-morrow,  as 
Professor  Ewald,  one  of  the  men  I  want  to  see,  will  not  be  here 
until  to-morrow  evening. 

Strassburg,  August  26.  I  have  several  official  library  letters, 
and  have  just  approved  a  contract  for  building  a  branch  library 
on  Tompkins  Square  (near  the  Boys'  Club)  to  cost  $85,000. 

Chartres,  September  I,  1903.  I  am  to  meet  His  Majesty, 
the  Prefect  of  the  Seine,  to-morrow,  and  hope  to  obtain  from 
him,  or  through  him,  a  good  lot  of  documents  for  the  Library. 

New  York,  September  27.  I  have  been  busy  with  the 
bidders  for  book  stacks  for  the  new  building  and  spent  three 
hours  yesterday  morning  in  listening  to  their  arguments  and 
inspecting  the  models. 

December  29.  I  have  just  come  from  the  Board  of  Esti- 
mates and  Apportionment.  They  rejected  all  the  bids  for 
stacks  for  the  new  building,  and  we  have  to  advertise  again. 
This  sets  us  back  three  or  four  months,  bless  them! 


TKe  New  York  Public  Library  313 

January  I,  1904.  The  talk  at  the  Club  last  night  was  all  on 
the  Chicago  horror,  and  the  general  opinion  is  that  no  theatre 
in  New  York  is  any  more  free  from  such  a  danger  than  was  the 
Iroquois.  If  there  is  any  exception,  it  is  the  Metropolitan 
Opera  House,  but  all  agreed  that  a  panic  there  would  be  most 
disastrous. 

February  9.  Yesterday  and  to-day  have  been  very  busy 
days  and  I  have  done  good  work.  It  is  now  practically  settled 
that  enough  money  will  be  provided,  so  that  I  shall  not  have 
to  discharge  anyone  or  reduce  any  salaries,  and  that  is  a  greac 
weight  off  my  mind. 

New  York,  March  16.  I  am  just  off  to  see  Mr.  Gregoor,  one 
of  my  cataloguers,  who  has  had  apoplexy.  He  lives  at  Pelham, 
near  New  Rochelle,  and  it  will  take  the  whole  afternoon  to  go 
and  come. 

March  23.  I  see  that  Mr.  Cannon  has  introduced  the 
Carnegie  Institution  charter  bill  in  the  House,  but  I  have 
as  yet  received  no  word  as  to  when  I  shall  be  wanted  in 
Washington. 

June  n.  I  am  just  off  for  Cold  Spring  Harbour,  to  receive 
the  laboratory  grounds  from  the  Wawepex  Club,  and  shall  stay 
to-night,  with  Mr.  Jones,  the  president.  ...  I  have  got  the 
data  for  my  census  report,  and  shall  go  at  it  next  week.  Yes- 
terday, I  took  the  ten  millions  in  Carnegie  bonds  from  J.  P. 
Morgan's  over  to  Hoboken,  and  deposited  them  in  the  Trust 
Company's  vaults.  I  carried  them  in  my  little  bag  and  felt 
very  important,  also  very  suspicious  of  every  one  who  brushed 
against  me.  But  no  robber  appeared. 

June  1 6.  In  the  horrible  steamboat  catastrophe  yesterday, 
two  of  the  women  employed  as  cleaners  for  the  Astor  building 
were  drowned.  The  little  son  of  Mr.  Alt,  the  engineer  at  the 
Astor,  was  on  the  boat  and  was  saved.  So  you  see  we  are  all 
deeply  interested.  I  do  not  see  what  excuse  the  officers  of  the 
boat  can  give,  but  we  must  wait  for  the  results  of  investigation. 


314  JoHn  SKa-w  Billings 

July  8.  The  city  will  not  furnish  any  stock  of  books  for  new 
libraries  until  next  year,  owing  to  want  of  money,  so  that  we 
shall  not  be  able  to  open  the  three  new  libraries  that  will  be 
finished  by  the  end  of  August.  It  is  a  pity. 

July  30.  Father  MacMahon  did  not  come  to  see  me  yester- 
day, but  sent  me  a  little  note  saying  that  the  Archbishop 
favours  consolidation,  so  I  suppose  it  is  all  right. 

Banff,  Canada.  August  5.  From  New  York  to  Buffalo 
I  spent  the  time  with  Mr.  Root  in  the  smoking  room,  except 
an  hour  at  lunch  with  the  ladies.  I  was  glad  of  the  oppor- 
tunity to  talk  over  Carnegie  matters  with  him,  and  he  was 
very  interesting  in  his  talk  about  how  they  want  him  to  run 
for  Governor  and  how  he  does  not  want  to  do  anything  of  the 
kind.  ...  I  had  been  told  that  there  were  beautiful  moun- 
tain views  to  be  seen  this  morning  so  I  got  up  early,  but  a 
smoke  haze  hid  everything  that  was  more  than  100  yards 
away,  as  there  have  been  big  fires  in  the  woods  for  the  last 
two  days,  and  nothing  but  hazy  dim  outlines  can  be  seen  from 
the  hotel. 

Banff,  August  9,  1904.  This  is  no  doubt  a  very  beautiful 
place  but  it  is  not  much  more  so  than  Onteora,  and  the  views 
from  the  hotel  are  curiously  like  those  from  your  cottage,  the 
same  twin  peaks  in  one  direction  and  the  view  up  the  valley  in 
the  other.  The  peaks  are  higher,  that  is  nearly  all  the  differ- 
ence. It  has  been  foggy  and  smoky  all  the  time  except  for 
about  two  hours  yesterday. 

Victoria,  B.  C.,  August  14.  I  succeeded  very  well  in  Van- 
couver, and  got  a  very  nearly  complete  collection  of  the  muni- 
cipal documents,  much  more  complete  than  the  Vancouver 
Library  has.  If  I  can  do  as  well  here  I  shall  be  satisfied.  I 
have  just  received  a  telegram  from  Mr.  Lydenberg,  announcing 
the  death  of  Mr.  A  very.  He  will  be  a  great  loss  to  the  Library, 
and  I  am  very  sorry  on  my  own  account,  for  he  was  a  good 
friend  to  me.  At  last  the  great  naval  battle  has  come  off.  I 
am  curious  to  know  what  Captain  Mahan  will  say  about  it. 


THe  New  YorK  Public  Library          315 

.  .  .  There  have  been  great  forest  fires  causing  much  smoke 
and  haze,  so  that  one  can  see  nothing  of  the  distant  snow- 
capped mountains  of  which  I  have  heard  so  much.  I  shall  be 
glad  to  get  back  for  I  am  tired  of  doing  nothing. 

August  21.  Yesterday  morning,  there  was  a  big  snow  and 
rain  storm  here  which  washed  the  smoke  out  of  the  air,  and 
made  it  possible  for  the  first  time  to  see  the  distant  mountains. 
It  is  certainly  beautiful,  but  it  is  very  dull,  and  I  shall  be  glad 
to  get  on  the  home  stretch  to-morrow.  I  have  not  seen  a  news- 
paper for  four  days,  so  don't  know  whether  Port  Arthur  has 
fallen  or  not,  but  it  makes  no  difference. 

September  16.  I  find  I  have  been  made  chairman  of  a 
committee  appointed  by  the  Society  of  Army  Surgeons  to 
award  a  $100  prize  for  the  best  essay  on  the  relation  of  the 
Medical  Department  to  the  health  of  armies,  and  seven  long 
typewritten  essays  have  been  sent  me  to  read.  I  shall  try  to 
read  them  on  Sunday. 

September  17.  I  have  got  my  annual  report  about  the 
Library  in  type,  am  going  to  give  plans  for  six  of  the  new 
branch  libraries  in  it,  which  will  be  of  some  interest. 

September  24.  The  models  for  the  stacks  on  which  bids  are 
being  made  are  being  put  up  in  the  old  Arsenal  (64th  Street  and 
5th  Avenue)  and  we  are  to  examine  them  on  Monday  morning. 
The  bids  range  from  $765,000  to  $970,000. 

October  8,  1904.  I  took  Brunton  over  the  Astor  Library  and 
then  took  him  to  Dr.  Hamilton's  and  got  home  at  six.  When 
I  went  up  into  the  Library,  I  found  Dr.  Clifford  Allbutt,  of 
Cambridge,  reading  the  last  number  of  Punch  and  very  much 
at  home. 

Washington,  March  16,  1905.  Have  spent  most  of  the  time 
at  the  Congressional  Library  and  have  secured  a  lot  of  things. 
.  .  .  My  lecture  last  night,  at  the  Public  Library  here,  went  off 
very  well  and  there  was  a  good  audience. 


316  JoHn.  SHaw  Billings 

May  10.  Cadwalader  is  still  confined  to  bed,  and  I  am  to 
take  his  place  to-night  at  a  dinner  which  he  is  giving  to  the 
Whitelaw  Reids,  the  Mayor,  etc.  I  feel  very  important. 

May  13.  They  have  got  the  bill  passed  for  a  site  for  the 
Central  Brooklyn  Public  Library,  which  is  to  cost  about  two 
millions  of  dollars. 

TO    MISS    ACLAND 

April  n,  1912.  It  is  getting  to  be  a  huge  machine  at  the 
central  building.  We  are  having  more  visitors  and  more  read- 
ers than  the  British  Museum  or  the  Bibliotheque  Nationale. 
Mere  bigness,  however,  does  not  impress  me  much. 

October  17,  1912.  I  cannot  get  away  this  winter.  Prob- 
ably I  shall  retire  from  library  work  next  year.  ...  If  I 
live,  and  feel  well  enough  and  find  it  possible,  I  may  take  a 
long  trip  after  I  retire,  going  to  Egypt,  Greece,  etc.  which  I 
have  always  wanted  to  see.  Give  my  affectionate  regards  to 
your  people  who  are  also  my  people. 

It  will  be  gathered  from  the  letters  of  Dr.  Billings  to 
his  wife,  which  form  a  sort  of  diary  of  his  experiences,  that 
his  avocations  during  these  five  years  were  as  varied  as  of 
old.  In  addition  to  his'  gigantic  labours  upon  the  New 
York  Public  Library,  he  had  taken  upon  himself  other 
executive  duties  in  connection  with  the  Carnegie  Institu- 
tion of  Washington,  with  which  he  became  associated 
about  the  time  Mr.  Carnegie  began  to  put  his  idea 
into  practical  shape.  He  was  equally  punctual  at  the 
annual  meetings  of  the  National  Academy  of  Sciences 
at  Washington,  always  paying  a  little  visit  of  in- 
spection to  the  Surgeon-General's  Library  on  these 
occasions.  As  late  as  1897,  ne  made  a  report  to  the 
Memphis  City  Council  upon  the  plans  proposed  for  the 
new  City  Hospital  there,  his  offhand  discussion  of  which, 


The  New  YorK  Public  Library  317 

as  taken  down  by  the  stenographer,    is    a    remarkable 
piece  of  close  reasoning. ' 

On  December  2,  1905,  he  was  engaged  by  the  corpora- 
tion of  the  proposed  Peter  Bent  Brigham  Hospital  in 
Boston,  to  lay  out,  in  connection  with  the  land  recently 
purchased,  plans  for  suitable  buildings,  for  a  hospital  to 
accommodate  at  least  two  hundred  beds,  a  general  scheme 
of  organization,  and  details  regarding  its  alliance  with 
Harvard  University.  For  many  months  he  was  at  work 
over  this  and  in  frequent  converse  with  those  interested 
in  the  undertaking,  in  connection  with  which  he  visited 
all  the  larger  European  hospitals  in  the  summer  of  1907. 
His  final  recommendations  were  provisionally  adopted, 
and,  in  collaboration  with  Professor  F.  W.  Chandler  of 
the  Massachusetts  Institute  of  Technology,  he  worked 
out  the  details  of  an  architectural  competition,  serving  as 
one  of  the  committee  of  experts  for  selecting  the  plans. 
Upon  this  selection,  and  the  subsequent  choice  of  a  firm  of 
architects,  he  tendered  his  resignation  on  December  2, 
1908.  The  Boston  architects  worked  continually  over  the 
plans,  under  the  supervision  of  Dr.  Howard,  the  present 
superintendent,  and  the  hospital  was  completed  in  due 
course  in  1913.  Billings  also  served  on  the  Committee  of 
Fifty,  which,  during  1893-1903  prepared  an  important 
series  of  investigations  on  the  physiological  aspects  of  the 
liquor  problem,  which  were  published  in  two  volumes  in 
1903,  and  of  which  he  helped  to  prepare  a  summary  in 
1905.  He  was  one  of  the  founders  of  the  Charaka  Club  of 
New  York  City,  devoted  to  the  study  of  the  history  of 
medicine,  and,  in  1895,  he  presented  an  important  and 
interesting  paper  on  "The  King's  Touch  for  Scrofula," 
which  shows  a  curious  insight  into  views  then  novel,  but 
now  currently  received,  as  to  psychical  effects  of  emotion 

1  For  Dr.  Billings's  discussion  of  these  plans,  see  Memphis  Med.  Monthly, 
1897,  xvii.,  193;  249;  309. 


318  JoKn  SHaw  Billings 

on  internal  secretions  of  the  ductless  glands.  In  1897,  he 
made  a  historical  report  on  "The  Influence  of  the  Smith- 
sonian Institution  upon  the  Development  of  Libraries,  the 
Organization  and  Work  of  Societies,  and  the  Publication 
of  Scientific  Literature  in  the  United  States" ;  and  another 
report  on  "The  Progress  of  Medicine  in  the  Nineteenth 
Century, "  in  1901.  In  1903,  he  addressed  the  graduating 
class  of  the  Army  Medical  School  at  Washington  on  "The 
Military  Medical  Officer  at  the  Opening  of  the  Twentieth 
Century,"  a  witty  and  engaging  discourse;  and,  in  con- 
nection with  his  library  duties  he  was  in  constant  request 
as  a  speaker  in  connection  with  the  opening  of  the  differ- 
ent branch  libraries  of  the  Carnegie  Foundation  and  on 
similar  occasions  elsewhere.  Of  these  may  be  mentioned 
his  addresses  to  the  New  York  Library  Club  (May  9,  1901) 
on  "The  Card  Catalogue  of  a  Great  Public  Library,"  giving 
the  methods  introduced  by  him  in  New  York,  the  presiden- 
tial address  to  the  American  Library  Association  (June  17, 
1902)  on  "Some  Library  Problems  of  To-morrow,"  and  his 
address  at  the  opening  of  the  new  library  building  at  Rad- 
cliffe  College,  Cambridge,  on  April  27, 1908.  In  this,  the  last 
important  public  address  delivered  by  Dr.  Billings,  his  audi- 
ence was  made  up  of  women,  and,  although  at  this  time,  his 
spirits  were  beginning  to  flag,  he  shows  his  usual  cleverness 
and  esprit  in  adapting  his  subject  to  a  gathering  of  ladies. 
He  likens  a  library  to  a  flower  garden,  a  gymnasium  in  which 
the  intellectual  and  emotional  faculties  may  be  exercised  and 
trained,  and  to  the  flying  carpet  of  the  Arabian  story  as  a 
means  of  overcoming  the  galling  yoke  of  space  and  time. 
He  comments  humorously  on  the  lack  of  a  "browsing  cor- 
ner, "  in  a  women's  library,  on  the  lack  of  books  on  lace 
and  tapestry  in  its  catalogue,  while,  at  the  same  time, 

the  motive  of  Mrs.  Toodles  for  buying  a  door-plate  bearing 
the  name  of  Brown  because  she  (Mrs.  Toodles)  might  have  a 


XHe  New  YorK  Pxiblic  Library  319 

daughter,  and  that  daughter  might  marry  a  man  named 
Brown,  "and  then  it  would  be  so  handy  to  have  the  door- 
plate  in  the  house" 

would  seem  to  be  "one  that  appeals  to  some  professors  as 
well  as  to  some  librarians."  His  final  summary  of  the 
larger  functions  of  a  public  library  is  characteristic : 

In  this  library  are  gathered  the  most  important  records  of 
the  world's  memory,  of  the  progress  of  man  from  the  days  when 
Accad  ruled  the  land  between  the  rivers  and  the  first  dynasty 
was  building  in  the  valley  of  the  Nile. 

The  dreams  and  hopes,  the  joys  and  sorrows,  the  sayings  and 
doings  of  the  wisest  men  of  all  times  and  all  countries  are 
gathered  here,  and  it  is  from  these  that  our  teachers,  our  legis- 
lators and  our  people  must  draw  the  stores  and  weapons  with 
which  to  contend  with  the  same  ignorance,  indolence,  folly  and 
vice  which  have  led  to  the  downfall  of  the  cities  and  kingdoms 
of  long  ago. 

One  other  citation  from  this  address  of  Billings  may  be 
given — a  recollection  of  his  youth : 

When  I  was  in  college  fifty  years  ago,  the  Library  was  not 
recognized  as  a  part  of  the  system  of  instruction.  No  professor 
ever  referred  the  students  to  it,  or  suggested  any  use  of  the 
books  in  it.  It  contained  about  15,000  volumes,  and  was  open 
on  Saturday  mornings  from  9  to  12.  Each  student  could 
borrow  two  books,  many  of  them  did  not  borrow  any,  and  I 
always  found  it  easy  to  get  half  a  dozen  or  more  students  to 
give  me  permission  to  borrow  for  them,  so  that  I  usually  left 
with  as  many  books  as  I  could  conveniently  carry. 

During  the  long  summer  vacations  I  used  to  make  a  bur- 
glarious entrance  into  the  library  by  an  attic  trap-door,  a  climb 
over  the  roof,  etc.,  and  then  I  had  long  hours  of  enjoyment. 
I  had  no  wise  librarian  to  guide  me — I  simply  tried  every  book 
on  the  shelves,  skimming  and  skipping  through  the  majority, 


32<>  JoHn.  SKa-w  Billings 

and  really  reading  those  which  interested  me,  and  if  there  had 
been  a  librarian  there  I  should  have  carefully  kept  away. 

In  1905,  Drs.  Billings,  Weir  Mitchell,  and  W.  W.  Keen 
were  invited  by  the  College  of  Physicians  of  Philadelphia 
to  give  some  reminiscences  of  their  experiences  as  army 
surgeons  during  the  Civil  War,  which  were  printed  in  the 
transactions  of  the  College  for  that  year. 

During  the  last  years  of  his  life,  Billings  made  frequent 
but  reluctant  summer  trips  abroad,  usually  at  the  instance 
of  his  friend,  Mr.  Cadwalader,  who  liked  to  travel  with  him. 
In  1905, 1906,  and  1908,  the  two  friends  sojourned  at  Carls- 
bad and  Marienbad;  in  1907,  Billings  made  a  tour  of  in- 
spection of  the  principal  hospitals  of  Great  Britain  and  the 
Continent  in  connection  with  his  plans  for  the  Peter  Bent 
Brigham  Hospital;  in  1909,  he  spent  his  summer  vacation 
on  the  Pacific  Coast;  in  1910,  he  was  in  England  and 
Holland.  He  took  no  vacation  in  1911  on  account  of 
his  interest  in  the  new  building  of  the  New  York  Public 
Library,  which  was  opened  in  the  late  spring  of  that  year. 
During  the  summer  of  1912,  he  did  not  leave  the  city, 
except  to  pass  some  time  at  Sharon,  Connecticut,  with  his 
wife  who  was  then  in  her  last  illness. 

On  Monday,  November  n,  1902,  at  three  o'clock,  the 
corner-stone  of  the  New  York  Public  Library  was  laid, 
the  principal  speakers  being  Mr.  John  Bigelow,  President 
of  the  Board  of  Trustees,  and  Honorable  Seth  Low,  Mayor 
of  the  city  of  New  York.  In  the  course  of  his  remarks, 
Mr.  Bigelow  said: 

I  should  fail  of  my  duty  if  I  did  not  here,  on  behalf  of  the 
board  of  trustees,  publicly  recognize  our  incalculable  obligations 
to  Dr.  J.  S.  Billings,  who  seems  to  have  been  providentially 
sent  to  conduct  the  executive  affairs  of  the  new  corpora- 
tion. If  the  nature  and  extent  of  his  services  are  best  under- 
stood, as  they  naturally  should  be,  by  the  trustees,  they  are,  I 


TKe  New  YorK  Pviblic  Library  321 

am  persuaded,  already  generously  appreciated  by  this  com- 
munity, among  whom  he  first  became  a  resident  to  oblige  us. 

Following  Mr.  Bigelow's  remarks,  the  heavy  stone,  over 
seven  feet  long  and  weighing  seven  and  one  half  tons,  was 
swung  into  place,  and  the  mayor,  equipped  with  a  silver 
trowel,  pronounced  it  to  be  well  and  truly  laid,  after 
which  he  delivered  a  short  address.  In  the  stone  had  been 
deposited  a  number  of  public  documents  relating  to  the 
history  of  the  New  York  Public  Library  and  certain  news- 
papers of  the  day.  A  short  prayer  by  Archbishop  Farley 
concluded  the  ceremonies. 

On  May  23,  1911,  the  new  building  of  the  New  York 
Public  Library  was  formally  opened  to  the  public,  the 
ceremonies  being  held  in  the  rotunda  of  the  new  building 
in  the  presence  of  an  audience  of  about  six  hundred  per- 
sons. The  procession,  headed  by  Dr.  Billings  and  Mr. 
Edwin  H.  Anderson,  the  present  Director,  included  Mr. 
Carnegie,  Mr.  Cadwalader,  Mr.  Rives,  and  the  other  trus- 
tees, Mr.  Bigelow,  Bishop  Greer,  and  Archbishop  Farley, 
the  Mayor  of  the  City  (Mr.  Gaynor),  the  Governor  of  the 
State  of  New  York  (Mr.  Dix),  and  the  President  of  the 
United  States  (Mr.  Taft).  After  a  prayer  by  Bishop 
Greer,  Mr.  George  L.  Rives  delivered  an  historical  address 
on  the  progress  of  the  Library  to  date.  Addresses  by  Mr. 
Stover,  Mr.  Gaynor,  Mr.  Bigelow,  Mr.  Dix,  and  Mr.  Taft 
followed,  the  ceremonies  concluding  with  a  benediction  by 
Archbishop  Farley.  This  was  followed  by  a  public  inspec- 
tion of  the  building  and  a  general  reception  attended  by 
several  thousand  guests.  On  the  following  morning  Wed- 
nesday, May  24th  at  nine  o'clock,  the  building  was  thrown 
open  to  the  public. 

Through  some  oversight  on  the  part  of  the  President  of 
the  Board  of  Trustees,  not  a  word  was  said  about  either 
Dr.  Billings  or  Mr.  Cadwalader  during  the  entire  pro- 


322  JoKn  SHaw  Billings 

ceedings  of  the  dedication,  thus  omitting  mention  of  the 
two  men  who  had  done  most  to  make  the  Public  Library 
what  it  is. 

The  new  building  as  it  stands  is  a  rectangular  structure 
in  white  marble,  390  x  270  feet  in  dimensions,  the  archi- 
tecture in  the  style  of  the  modern  Renaissance,  tending  to 
the  Louis  Seize  period,  built  around  two  interior  courts, 
each  about  eighty  feet  square.  The  main  facade  of  the 
building,  with  its  marble  columns,  fronting  on  Fifth 
Avenue,  is  handsome.  The  interior  finish  is  mainly  of 
marble,  with  oak  wainscoting  in  the  office  and  reading 
rooms,  and  French  walnut  in  the  suite  on  the  first  floor 
(Fifth  Avenue  front).  As  in  Dr.  Billings's  original  plan 
the  book  stacks,  seven  stories  high,  are  in  the  rear,  the 
periodicals  at  the  front  of  the  first  floor;  the  children's 
room,  originally  located  on  the  main  floor,  is  now  on  the 
basement  or  ground  floor.  An  exhibition  room  for  the 
display  of  rare  treasures  is  also  on  the  main  floor,  between 
the  two  courts.  On  the  second  floor  front  are  the  offices 
of  the  Director  and  Trustees,  a  lecture  room,  and  the 
rooms  devoted  to  the  science  collection.  Along  the  sides  of 
this  floor  are  the  cataloguing  rooms  and  those  devoted 
to  public  documents,  economics,  and  sociology.  Special 
study  rooms  and  reading  rooms  for  the  Slavonic,  Jewish, 
and  Oriental  collections  occupy  the  central  space  between 
the  courts.  The  main  feature  of  the  third  floor  is  the  large 
reading  room,  seating  768  persons  and  containing  about 
thirty  thousand  freely  accessible  reference  books,  its 
location  affording  obvious  advantages  as  to  light,  ventila- 
tion, and  general  quietude;  the  central  public  catalogue 
room,  between  the  courts,  lined  as  to  its  lower  walls  with 
six  thousand  catalogue  trays,  with  the  information  desk 
in  the  centre.  The  sides  of  the  third  floor  are  devoted  to 
American  history,  reserve  books,  and  MSS.,  prints,  music, 
photographs,  and  genealogy,  while  at  the  front  are  the 


The  New  YorK  Public  Library          323 

collections  relating  to  art  and  architecture,  the  Stuart 
collection  of  rare  curios,  and  a  picture  gallery.  The  base- 
ment floor  has  the  lower  strata  of  the  book  stacks  at  the 
rear,  a  shipping  room,  printing  office,  newspaper  room,  and 
children's  room  on  the  sides,  a  printing  office,  bindery, 
storage  room,  and  library  school  class  room  at  the  front, 
while  opposite  the  42  d  Street  entrance,  filling  the  space 
of  the  north  court,  is  a  room  for  the  circulating  library  for 
adults.  The  central  space  between  the  two  courts  con- 
tains a  lecture  room,  the  rest  being  devoted  to  the  mechani- 
cal equipment.  The  entire  Library  accommodates  over 
seventeen  hundred  readers,  and  its  book  stacks,  with  the 
other  shelves,  afford  accommodation  for  about  three 
million  volumes. 

In  the  Century  Magazine  for  April,  1911,  Dr.  Billings 
published  a  description  of  the  Library,  his  last  contribu- 
tion to  literature,  which  may  be  consulted  for  further 
details.  In  this  paper,  he  says, 

The  scientific  inquirer,  the  engineer  and  technologist,  the 
patent  attorney,  the  student  of  political  science  and  econom- 
ics, the  investigator  of  early  American  history,  the  reader  in 
Jewish  history  and  literature,  in  Slavonic  literature,  or  in 
Oriental  literature,  the  musician,  the  genealogist,  and  the 
blind  man  will  each  find  a  special  library  for  his  use,  contained 
in  a  separate  room  with  an  attendant. 

He  enlarges  upon  the  value  of  its  collections  of  Ameri- 
can history,  the  strong  point  of  this  Library,  its  Americana, 
beginning  with  the  letter  of  Columbus  announcing  the 
results  of  his  first  voyage;  its  manuscripts,  prints  and  art 
collections,  its  collections  of  Irish  and  Jewish  history  and 
literature,  naval  history,  dramatic  literature,  philosophy, 
folk-lore,  and  the  history  of  religious  sects.  "The  new 
building  will  have  accommodation  for  3,500,000  volumes, " 
he  concludes,  "and  it  ought  to  possess  this  number  within 


324  JoHn  SKa-w   Billings 

twenty-five  years. "  At  the  close  of  the  year  1913,  the 
Central  Library  contained  919,441  volumes  and  307,868 
pamphlets,  making  a  total  for  the  reference  department 
of  1,227,309  pieces;  while  the  forty-two  branch  libraries, 
including  the  thirty-seven  erected  out  of  the  Carnegie 
fund,  contained  964,189  volumes,  making  a  grand  total  of 
2,191,498  volumes  and  pamphlets  in  both  departments. 
As  Mr.  Anderson, T  the  present  Director,  has  said, 

Dr.  Billings  was  chiefly  responsible  for  the  plans  of  the 
central  building.  In  a  very  real  sense  he  was  its  creator. 
Always  preferring  to  have  things  plain  and  simple,  he  was  not 
greatly  interested  in  the  architectural  style  of  the  building, 
but  rather  accepted  these  as  something  which  could  hardly  be 
avoided  under  the  circumstances. 

Few  who  came  in  contact  with  Dr.  Billings  were  aware 
that  this  strong,  forceful  man  had  to  cope  with  more  than 
his  share  of  the  ills  that  flesh  is  heir  to.  During  the  last 
two  decades  of  his  life,  he  suffered  from  both  the  cancerous 
and  the  calculous  diatheses,  and  was  eight  times  on  the 
surgeon's  table,  four  of  these  being  major  operations. 
Between  1890  and  1892,  he  suffered  from  cancer  of  the  lip, 
undergoing  five  operations  for  its  removal,  of  which  the 
last  performed  by  Dr.  William  S.  Halsted  at  Baltimore  in 
1892,  was  very  severe  and  radical,  involving  extensive 
removal  of  glands  of  the  neck.  He  kept  the  facts  about 
these  operations  to  himself,  until  the  last  one,  when  he 
told  his  son,  stating  that  he  did  not  expect  it  to  be  success- 
ful, and  that  he  proposed  to  continue  with  his  work  until 
he  "became  a  nuisance  to  those  about  him,"  when  he 
would  retire  somewhere  and  wait  till  the  end.  The  Hal- 
sted operation,  however,  proved  successful.  Professor 
Halsted  himself  relates  that  Billings  grumbled  over  some 

1  In  a  letter  to  the  writer. 


THe  New  YorK  Public  Library          325 

painful  phases  of  the  after-treatment  as  "very  poor  sur- 
gery," but  upon  being  informed  that  it  was  partly  for 
experimental  purposes,  he  cheerfully  submitted  to  the  pain 
and  said  no  more  about  it.  In  the  last  four  years  of  his 
life,  he  had  two  patches  of  cutaneous  epithelioma  which 
were  successfully  treated  with  radium  by  Dr.  Abbe  of 
New  York.  In  his  diary  for  1900  is  the  entry :  ' '  February 
5th.  To  Roosevelt  Hospital.  Operated  on  at  four  P.M. 
by  Dr.  McBurney  for  removal  of  biliary  calculus,"  after 
which  he  seems  to  have  been  present  at  a  dinner  on  Febru- 
ary 1 6th.  On  November  27,  1906,  there  is  a  record  of  a 
cholecystectomy  at  the  Presbyterian  Hospital,  and  on  Feb- 
ruary 24,  1908,  "operated  on  by  Dr.  Brown"  at  the  same 
hospital.  I  never  heard  him  refer  to  any  of  these  things, 
with  the  exception  of  a  casual  reference  to  a  fracture  of  the 
ribs  sustained  in  a  fall  occasioned  by  the  jolting  of  a  railroad 
car,  which  he  mentioned  in  the  jaunty  manner  he  had  in 
conversing  with  Dr.  Fletcher.  Of  his  fortitude  and  stoi- 
cism in  the  face  of  all  these  troubles  we  have  the  testimony 
of  those  who  knew  him  well. 

The  following  trait  has  been  kindly  furnished  by 
President  Eliot,  of  Harvard : 

In  October,  1896,  I  chanced  to  sit  next  to  Dr.  Billings  in  the 
old  operating  "theatre"  of  the  Massachusetts  General  Hospi- 
tal at  the  celebration  of  the  fiftieth  anniversary  of  the  first 
public  hospital  operation  in  the  world  performed  on  a  patient 
made  unconscious  by  inhaling  ether.  Several  addresses  were 
made  by  eminent  physicians  and  surgeons,  and  Dr.  Weir 
Mitchell  read  his  remarkable  poem  on  Pain.  At  the  close  of 
the  exercises  the  audience  rose  and  slowly  left  the  room,  where 
the  historic  operation  had  been  performed.  As  Dr.  Billings 
and  I  were  waiting  for  a  chance  to  go  out,  I  saw  a  gentleman  of 
about  Dr.  Billings's  age  approaching  us  with  some  difficulty 
through  the  crowd  and  the  somewhat  displaced  chairs.  When 
Dr.  Billings  caught  sight  of  this  approaching  eager  face,  his 


326  JoHn  SHaw  Billings 

own  face  lighted  up  very  much,  and  both  men  stretched  their 
arms  toward  each  other  before  they  were  near  enough  to  clasp 
hands.  They  shook  hands  with  great  cordiality,  but  in  silence, 
and  gazed  at  each  other.  The  first  words  did  not  come  from 
Dr.  Billings;  they  were,  "Any  return,  John?"  spoken  tenderly. 
Dr.  Billings  replied  with  the  same  gentleness,  "Not  yet,  Fred." 
Whereupon  they  shook  hands  again  with  the  utmost  cordiality, 
and  parted. 

Then  I  understood  with  what  heroic  constancy  Dr.  Billings 
had  already  stuck  to  his  work,  though  uncertain  how  soon  a 
mortal  disease  would  bring  his  working  time  to  an  end.  In 
that  uncertainty  he  went  on  performing  vast  labours  for  six- 
teen years  more. 

In  his  age  as  in  his  martial  youth,  he  took  his  risks  and 
endured  his  anxieties  like  a  resolute  soldier ;  and  all  the  time 
accomplished  great  results  through  prodigious  labours,  guided 
by  his  keen  intelligence  and  high  purpose  to  be  serviceable. 

The  following1  is  from  one  of  Dr.  Billings's  most  inti- 
mate friends,  Sir  Henry  Burdett,  of  London: 

Attacked  by  cancer  many  years  ago,  he  twice  underwent  an 
operation  without  the  knowledge  of  his  wife,  to  whom  he  was 
devotedly  attached,  and  came  back  again  to  his  home,  took 
up  his  ordinary  work  in  so  ordinary  a  manner  that  Mrs.  Billings, 
one  of  the  most  delightful  of  women,  never  had  an  idea  of  the 
suffering  and  perils  which  he  had  gone  through  during  what  he 
denominated  a  short  vacation.  Later  on,  when  he  found 
himself  attacked  by  a  grievous  internal  trouble,  for  which 
orthodox  treatment  failed,  he  determined  to  place  himself 
again  in  the  hands  of  the  surgeons,  and  was  one  of  the  first 
to  undergo  an  internal  operation  of  so  dangerous  and  compli- 
cated a  character  that  at  that  time  few  surgeons  would  under- 
take it.  Each  time  he  survived  the  operation,  having  a 
wonderful  constitution,  and  returned  to  his  work,  which  he 
was  able  to  pursue  with  uninterrupted  success  until  the  day  of 

1  Hospital,  London,  1913,  liii,  671. 


THe  New  YorK  Pxiblic  Library          327 

his  death.  The  sufferings  and  trials  which  John  Billings  en- 
dured, having  regard  to  the  value  of  his  life  and  health  to  the 
generation  which  he  served,  belong  to  those  mysteries  which 
pass  human  comprehension.  No  doubt  in  God's  mercy  there 
was  purpose  in  it  all,  for  everything  to  a  nature  like  his  tended 
to  make  him  a  great  character,  full  of  the  highest  and  noblest 
influence  on  every  life  which  had  the  good  fortune  to  come  in 
contact  with  his  own.  We  are  conscious  that  a  knowledge  of 
what  he  had  to  suffer  and  of  the  spirit  in  which  he  bore  it  all 
has  made  it  easier  to  some  of  his  contemporaries  to  face  peril  or 
temptation,  and  if  ever  the  temptation  to  shirk  has  come,  his 
example  has  put  fibre  and  manliness  into  many  of  us,  and 
made  us  feel  that  whatever  the  cost,  seeing  what  he  did  and 
how  nobly  he  bore  all  his  trials,  we  at  least  as  his  friends  could 
not  do  less  than  our  best  always,  though  the  heavens  fall. 
The  loss  of  such  a  life  to  his  family  and  friends  is  irreparable, 
but  it  is  a  glorious  and  grateful  fact  to  remember  that  John 
Billings  was  permitted  to  continue  in  harness  to  the  end, 
though  he  was  nearly  seventy-five  years  of  age.  The  loss  of 
his  wife  last  autumn  was  keenly  felt.  Writing  afterwards  he 
records  that  "the  end  came  in  a  peaceful,  quiet  sleep.  She 
saw  all  the  children  within  two  weeks  before  her  death  and  was 
happy.  I  hope  that  in  my  finale  I  may  be  as  patient  and 
cheerful  as  she  was." 

The  death  of  his  wife  on  August  19,  1912,  was  indeed  a 
severe  blow  to  Dr.  Billings,  and  he  did  not  long  survive  her. 
A  lady  of  rare  personal  charm,  loved  and  respected  by 
everyone  who  knew  her,  she  had  been  the  inspiration  of 
his  youth  and  the  friend  and  adviser  of  his  whole  active 
life.  Possessed  of  the  happy  gift  of  tactful  sympathy  she 
was  able  to  smooth  away  any  temporary  ruffles  or  mis- 
understandings occasioned  in  others  by  his  naturally 
imperious  temper,  and  she  is  described  by  all  who  knew  her 
as  an  ideal  home  maker  and  one  who  at  times  gave  him 
material  assistance  in  his  work  at  home,  which  sometimes 
lasted  far  into  the  night.  He  once  described  how  she 


328  JoHn  SHaw  Billings 

helped  him  in  the  preparation  of  the  index  of  the  five- 
volume  System  of  Surgery  which  he  had  edited  with  Dr. 
Dennis  of  New  York,  the  entire  floor  of  a  large  room  being 
papered  with  the  different  alphabetical  entries.  I  remember 
seeing  her  on  two  occasions,  once  at  her  home,  where, 
although  a  stranger,  I  was  immediately  set  at  ease  and 
made  welcome  by  her  gracious  friendliness  of  manner. 

In  1913,  Dr.  Billings  was  again  beset  by  his  old  enemy, 
calculus,  this  time  in  another  locality,  and  he  again  went 
up  for  operation  in  March,  under  the  care  of  Drs.  John 
Rodgers  and  Frank  Edgerton  at  the  New  York  Hospital. 
Outwardly  he  gave  no  sign  of  any  anticipation  of  serious 
results,  with  one  exception.  Dr.  Weir  Mitchell  relates 
that  he  said: 

"  I  am  for  the  first  time  apprehensive."  He  went  on  to  add: 
"  It  is  a  signal  of  age;  and  of  late,  as  never  before,  any  new  pro- 
ject, any  need  for  change  in  the  affairs  of  the  library,  I  find 
arouses  in  me  an  unreasonable  mood  of  opposition.  This  too 
is,  I  know,  a  sure  evidence  of  my  being  too  old  for  my  work. 
I  shall,  I  think,  resign  my  directorship  of  the  library."1 

Before  leaving  the  Library  for  the  last  time,  as  if  sensing 
the  gravity  of  the  situation,  he  went  in  to  shake  hands  with 
his  two  associates,  saying  good-bye  in  a  manner  which  was 
"most  engagingly  affectionate,  fatherly,  brotherly,  sweet, 
if  you  can  apply  the  word  to  a  man  so  virile  and  masculine 
as  Dr.  Billings."2  For  the  first  two  days,  he  did  well, 
although  suffering  considerable  pain,  but  pneumonia  super- 
vened and  eventually  proved  fatal.  Dr.  Billings  died  on 
March  II,  1913. 

His  body  was  taken  to  Washington  on  March  I3th,  and 
after  services  at  St.  John's  Church,  Georgetown,  was 
buried  at  Arlington  Cemetery  on  the  morning  of  Friday, 

1  S.  Weir  Mitchell,  Science,  N.  Y.,  1913,  n.  s.,  xxxviii.,  832. 
aMr.  H.  M.  Lydenberg  (private  letter). 


The  New  "YorK  Public  Library          329 

March  I4th.  The  casket,  draped  with  the  national  flag, 
was  borne  to  the  cemetery  on  an  artillery  caisson  and  was 
lowered  into  the  grave  to  the  sound  of  taps,  the  pall-bearers 
being  three  artillery  sergeants  and  three  corporals.  The 
honorary  pall-bearers  were  Dr.  S.  Weir  Mitchell;  Dr. 
Charles  D.  Walcott,  Secretary  of  the  Smithsonian  Institu- 
tion; Hon.  Elihu  Root,  United  States  Senator  from  New 
York;  Dr.  R.  S.  Woodward,  President  of  the  Carnegie 
Institution  of  Washington ;  Dr.  W.  S.  Halsted  of  the  Johns 
Hopkins  University;  Hon.  John  L.  Cadwalader  and  Mr. 
Frederic  R.  Halsey,  of  the  Library  Trustees;  and  Mr. 
Edwin  H.  Anderson,  Assistant  Director  of  the  New  York 
Public  Library.  Six  officers  of  the  Medical  Corps,  United 
States  Army,  and  seven  members  of  the  staff  of  the  New 
York  Public  Library  made  up  the  rest  of  the  escort. 

Dr.  Billings  left  five  children,  four  daughters,  Mary 
Clare,  born  November  9,  1863,  who  became  the  wife  of 
Dr.  William  Wallis  Ord  on  October  5,  1892 ;  Kate  Sherman, 
born  October  23,  1866,  married  to  William  Hanna  Wilson 
on  November  26,  1891;  Jessie  Ingram,  born  October  23, 
1 866,  who  married  Bradfield  Hartley  on  September  3, 1 890 ; 
Margaret  Janeway,  born  November  4,  1872;  and  a  son 
John  Sedgwick  Billings,  born  July  31,  1869,  who  is  well 
known  in  connection  with  his  work  in  the  New  York 
Health  Department.  Another  child,  born  in  1865,  died  in 
infancy. 

On  April  25,  1913,  a  memorial  meeting  in  honour  of  Dr. 
Billings  was  held  in  the  Stuart  Gallery  of  the  New  York 
Public  Library,  and  was  called  to  order  by  Mr.  Cadwala- 
der, President  of  the  Board  of  Trustees.  After  a  prayer  by 
the  Bishop  of  New  York,  Dr.  Weir  Mitchell  gave  an  affec- 
tionate personal  tribute  to  the  memory  of  his  dead  friend ; 
Sir  William  Osier  spoke  with  discrimination  of  Billings 's 
work  in  medical  bibliography,  Professor  William  H. 
Welch  dealt  with  his  work  in  hospital  construction  and 


33°  JoHn  SHaw  Billings 

hygiene,  Mr.  Andrew  Carnegie,  Mr.  Richard  R.  Bowker, 
and  Mr.  Cadwalader  spoke  of  his  human  and  personal 
characteristics,  and  letters  from  Senator  Elihu  Root  and 
others  were  read. 

Dr.  Mitchell  said  in  part : 

We  praise  those  who  through  years  of  work  attain  a  high 
level  of  achievement  in  any  direction.  But  this  friend  of 
whom  I  speak,  a  person  of  many  competencies,  lavished  on  his 
way  through  life  opportunities  for  wealth  and  fame,  any  one 
of  which  would  have  tempted  a  man  more  eager  than  he  for 
riches  or  more  avid  of  renown.  .  .  .  My  love  and  admiration 
for  this  man  began  early  in  the  war,  when  my  brother,  a  young 
surgeon,  fell  ill,  and  finally  died.  He  was  cared  for  with  the 
utmost  tenderness  by  the  man  whose  death  we  now  regret. 

Professor  Welch  said : 

He  was  a  leader  of  the  profession.  His  name  and  that  of  his 
intimate  friend  of  man}'-  years,  Dr.  Weir  Mitchell,  whom  we 
still  delight  to  honour  as  the  chief  ornament  of  American 
medicine,  were  of  all  the  physicians  of  this  country  the  two 
best  known  in  Europe.  .  .  .  His  leadership  was  based  upon 
intellectual  power  and  above  all  upon  strength  and  integrity 
of  character.  He  was  a  singularly  wise  man,  combining  with 
far-sighted  vision  critical  judgment,  the  gift  of  persuasion,  and 
practical  good  sense.  To  an  incredible  capacity  for  work  he 
joined  a  high  sense  of  duty  and  a  just  appreciation  and  sym- 
pathy which  secured  the  loyal  devotion  of  his  co-workers. 

Mr.  Carnegie  said: 

Knowledge  is  said  to  consist  of  two  elements — what  you 
yourself  already  know,  and  what  you  know  how  and  where  to 
obtain — of  both  departments  our  dear  lost  friend  was  master. 
Apart  from  his  wonderful  powers  of  the  brain,  his  heart  was 
tender,  and  many  a  tired  o'er-laboured  employee  feels  to-day 
he  has  lost  a  loving,  tender  friend.  He  was  always  just,  always 
considerate.  A  man  of  both  head  and  heart. 


THe  New  YorK  Pxablic  Library          331 

Friends,  during  his  long,  useful,  pure  and  unwearied  life  he 
set  all  privileged  to  know  him  an  example  we  shall  do  well  to 
treasure  and  follow;  for  of  him  it  can  be  truly  said,  he  lived  a 
kindly  pure  life  above  reproach,  and  by  faithful  administration 
of  great  tasks  committed  to  him,  surrounded  by  troops  of 
friends,  he  left  the  world  a  little  better  than  he  found  it. 

Referring  to  Dr.  Billings's  work  in  the  New  York  Public 
Library,  Mr.  Cadwalader  said,  in  conclusion : 

This  stalwart,  grave  and  somewhat  distant  man — stalwart 
in  mind  as  he  was  in  body — found  at  last  the  opportunity  of 
concentrating  his  energy,  learning  and  experience  upon  his 
final  and  perhaps  his  most  attractive  task  in  life. 

How  well  he  performed  that  office  we  well  know.  To 
attempt  here  to  enumerate  the  successive  steps  is  quite  im- 
possible. It  is  enough  to  say  that  he  prepared  the  competition 
for  the  exterior,  and  with  his  own  hands  the  plans  of  the  interior 
arrangement  of  this  building  as  it  now  exists.  He  organized 
the  system  by  which  the  reference  library  was  enlarged, 
catalogued  and  classified.  He  surrounded  himself  with  a 
devoted  staff,  and  he  himself  became  the  active  living  head. 
We  caught  the  infection  of  his  energy,  and  he  would  have  been 
a  poor  soul  who  made  no  effort  to  trot  on  in  the  rear  as  he 
strode  forward  with  gigantic  steps.  ...  As  for  myself,  I 
buried  in  his  grave  at  Arlington  one  of  a  rapidly  narrowing 
circle  of  my  dearest  friends. 

He  had  no  enemies;  he  could  have  none  in  the  atmos- 
phere in  which  he  moved.  He  had  no  enmities,  although 
he  did  not  "suffer  fools  gladly,"  and  regarded  with  amused 
contempt  humbugs  and  pretenders  who  posed  before  the 
public. 

In  fact,  I  fear  the  learned  Doctor  at  times,  and  perhaps 
often,  regarded  boards  of  trustees,  committees,  architects  and 
such  like  as  obstacles  cunningly  interposed  to  retard  his 
progress  on  the  path  of  life. 

It  is  a  happiness  to  us  to  know  that  after  a  life  of  almost 
romantic  achievements  he  was  allowed  to  witness  the  com- 


332  JoHn  SHaw  Billings 

pletion  of  his  final  task  in  the  establishment  and  successful 
administration  of  this  system. 

With  all  his  varied  powers  and  capacities  we  certainly  shall 
not  look  upon  his  like  again. 

At  a  memorial  meeting  held  at  the  Johns  Hopkins 
Hospital  on  May  26,  1913, *  Dr.  Henry  M.  Kurd  spoke  of 
Dr.  Billings' s  work  on  the  Hospital,  with  many  charac- 
teristic anecdotes.  Colonel  Walter  D.  McCaw  described 
his  military  career,  and  said : . 

He  undoubtedly  had  the  making  of  a  great  soldier.  He 
would  have  made  a  great  general.  He  would  have  made  a 
most  able  prime  minister,  and  he  would  have  had  his  own  way. 
He  would  undoubtedly  have  made  a  great  ruler,  probably  an 
easier  position  to  fill. 

Professor  William  S.  Halsted  said : 

I  shall  never  forget  his  words  or  his  look  as  he  said  to  me 
after  I  had  been  told  of  my  appointment,  "Now  you  have  the 
ball  at  your  feet,  all  you  have  to  do  is  to  kick  it. "  I  understood 
his  friendly,  almost  fatherly  smile  to  say,  "I  am  not  quite  sure 
that  I  approve  of  you  altogether  but  you  may  count  upon  my 
support."  Since  then  he  gave  me  many  proofs  that  I  had 
not  misinterpreted  his  kindly  glance. 

Dr.  Billings  was  too  great  a  man  to  be  fully  appreciated  in 
his  time. 

Professor  Welch  said: 

Of  all  the  men  I  have  ever  known,  he  was  about  the  wisest. 
He  was  a  man  whose  judgment  you  sought  on  any  difficult 
subject,  and  you  pinned  your  faith  to  him  more  than  to  any 
man  of  your  acquaintance.  He  was  wisest  because  he  was 
under  no  illusions.  He  got  at  the  heart  and  the  essence  of 
things.  Dr.  Osier  says,  The  fame  of  bibliographers  lives.  .  .  . 

1  Johns  Hopkins  Hasp.  Bull.,  Baltimore,  1914,  xxv.f  244-253. 


TKe  New  YorK  Public  Library          333 

Dr.  Billings  was  the  greatest  bibliographer  in  the  history  of 
medicine. 

Mrs.  Henry  Draper,  who  died  on  December  8,  1914, 
and  who  was  the  widow  of  Henry  Draper,  Professor  of 
Astronomy  at  Harvard  University,  established  the  John 
S.  Billings  Memorial  Fund  of  $200,000  "  in  grateful  re- 
cognition of  the  services  and  character  of  John  S.  Billings, 
lately  Director  of  the  Public  Library,"  for  the  purchase  of 
books,  prints,  and  pamphlets  for  the  Reference  Depart- 
ment of  the  New  York  Public  Library,  each  book  to  be 
marked  to  show  that  it  was  bought  out  of  the  John  S. 
Billings  Memorial  Fund. 

One  of  the  most  appreciative  of  his  German  admirers  was 
the  late  Professor  Franz  von  Winckel,  the  distinguished 
obstetrician  of  Munich,  who,  in  1887,  wrote  of  Billings: 

The  industry  of  this  man  is  simply  incredible,  and  any  one 
who  has  seen  him  in  his  narrow  workshop,  surrounded  by  his 
many  assistants,  will  be  filled  with  admiration  for  this  hero  of 
our  science.1 

In  1890,  von  Winckel  read  a  lecture  entitled  "J.  Cor- 
narius  und  J.  Billings,"2  in  which  he  likened  Billings,  "der 
Unermudlichste  der  Unermudlichen,"  to  Janus  Cornarius, 
the  great  Renaissance  commentator,  who  made  the  most 
accurate  translations  and  commentaries  of  the  greater 
Greek  medical  classics,  and  was  at  the  same  time  an  active 
practitioner  and  hygienist. 

Some  of  the  finest  tributes  to  Billings  after  his  death 
came  from  England.  One  of  the  best  is  from  Mr.  J.  Y.  W. 
MacAlister,  Librarian  of  the  Royal  Society  of  Medicine : 

In  Billings  has  passed  away  the  kind  of  man  who  makes 

1  Munchen  med.  Wochenschr.,  1887,  xxxiv.,  10. 

3  P.  von  Winckel,  Achtzehn  Vortrage,  Wiesbaden,  1914,  pp.  52-63. 


334  JoKn  SHa-w  Billings 

epochs.  He  was  a  great  man  in  every  sense  of  the  word.  Big 
in  body,  big  in  mind,  and  almost  superman  in  his  power  of 
work,  he  impressed  all  with  whom  he  came  in  contact  with  the 
conviction  that,  whatever  walk  in  life  he  chose,  he  would  be 
easily  first.  He  undertook  tasks  and  carried  them  through, 
which  ordinary  men  attempt  only  by  means  of  committees, 
institutions,  societies,  cooperations,  and  a  vast  amount  of  fuss 
and  noise.  His  plan  was  simplicity  itself.  If  the  thing  was 
worth  doing,  he  simply  did  it.  I  saw  him  once  "resting  "  in 
the  evening  after  a  long  and  arduous  official  day.  He  was 
lying  on  a  couch,  almost  hidden  by  two  mountains  of  medical 
periodicals  in  every  language,  one  on  either  side  of  him.  He 
was  slowly,  but  without  pause,  steadily  working  through  the 
mountain  on  his  right,  marking  the  items  to  be  indexed,  and 
transferring  each  journal,  as  finished,  to  the  mountain  on  his 
left.  This  was  when  he  was,  almost  single-handed,  producing 
month  by  month  the  Index  Medicus,  and  the  still  greater  task 
of  the  Surgeon-General's  Catalogue — two  pieces  of  work  without 
which  the  rapid  advance  of  medicine  in  the  last  thirty  years 
would  have  been  impossible. 

I  remember  his  saying  to  me  once  when  I  said  something  in 
praise  of  what  he  was  doing,  "I'll  let  you  into  the  secret — 
there's  nothing  really  difficult  if  you  only  begin — some  people 
contemplate  a  task  until  it  looms  so  big,  it  seems  impossible, 
but  I  just  begin  and  it  gets  done  somehow.  There  would  be 
no  coral  islands  if  the  first  bug  sat  down  and  began  to  wonder 
how  the  job  was  to  be  done." 

He  had  done  a  big  life's  work  when  he  was  called  to  plan 
and  administer  the  great  New  York  Public  Library,  and  he 
tackled  it  on  his  own  principle — without  fuss  or  unnecessary 
publicity;  he  just  "began,"  and  each  day's  herculean  "chore" 
saw  him  miles  on  his  way  to  triumphant  success. 

He  was  quite  simply  and  sincerely  modest,  although  this 
did  not  prevent  an  amused  but  quite  magnanimous  contempt 
for  mere  talkers.  As  an  illustration  of  his  modesty  and 
simplicity  (at  the  risk  of  appearing  vain)  I  recall  that  when  he 
was  planning  the  New  York  Public  Library,  he  sent  me  a  copy 
of  the  plans  with  a  detailed  memorandum  on  the  specification 


The  New  YorK  Public  Library          335 

with  a,  request  that  I  would  "help  him"  (!)  with  criticisms  or 
advice.  I  am  prouder  that  he  asked  me  this  and  prouder  still 
that  he  thanked  me  for  and  adopted  some  humble  suggestions 
than  if  I  had  been  consulted  by  a  Government. 

His  interests  were  as  broad  as  his  mind.  One  happy  day  I 
went  with  him  and  his  lifelong  friend,  Justin  Winsor,  to  Strat- 
ford-on-Avon.  With  us  went  Sam  Timmins,  the  creator  of  the 
Memorial,  and  while  Timmins  did  the  honours  of  the  place  in 
his  own  inimitable  way,  Billings  showed  us — introduced  us — 
to  the  man,  Shakespeare.  They  might  have  been  schoolmates, 
so  vivid  was  the  living  imagination  with  which  his  slow,  almost 
solemn  periods  discoursed  of  the  living  Shakespeare  and  his 
immortal  creations. 

Take  him  for  all  in  all,  Billings  was  a  man,  and  we  are  not 
likely  to  look  upon  his  like  again. * 

1  Brit.  Med.  Jour.,  London,  1913,  i.,  642. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

SCIENTIFIC   AND    LITERARY   WORK 

DIEFFENBACH,  the  great  master  of  plastic  surgery, 
once  said  that  the  surgeon  should  have  the  many- 
sided  Ulyssean  temperament,  full  of  native  inven- 
tion and  resources,  not  to  be  found  in  books,  and  that,  in 
consequence,  all  good  surgeons  should  be  clear  thinkers, 
and  therefore  good  writers.  Billings  was  a  surgeon  of  this 
type.  In  versatility,  he  was  not  unlike  such  men  as  John 
Hunter,  Pirogoff,  or  Billroth.  After  a  unique  experience  of 
four  years,  he  gave  up  surgical  practice  at  the  close  of  the 
Civil  War,  after  which  his  activities  were  as  varied  as 
those  of  any  of  the  eminent  characters  just  mentioned. 
During  his  official  period  in  Washington,  and  after,  he 
reminds  us  mostly  of  Haller,  the  versatile  and  learned 
Swiss,  but  with  this  difference,  that  Haller  was  a  seden- 
tary grind  of  the  dressing-gown  and  slippers  type,  while 
Billings  was,  every  day  of  his  life,  a  man  of  affairs,  keen 
for  results  of  large  practical  moment,  carrying  all  these 
forward  along  with  his  Index  Catalogue,  very  much  like  a 
capable  general  pushing  an  army  corps  into  action,  with  a 
vigilant  eye  on  skirmish  line,  advance  columns  of  troops, 
reserves,  wagon  trains,  and  commissariat.  He  worked 
incessantly  and  unsparingly  and  attained  excellence  in 
several  different  fields  widely  remote  from  his  original 
calling.  With  the  exception  of  Dr.  Weir  Mitchell,  he  was 

336 


Scientific  and  Literary  WorK  337 

in  his  day,  and  particularly  in  the  eyes  of  Europe,  the  best 
known  and  most  highly  honoured  American  physician  of 
his  time.  I  have  heard  one  or  two  enthusiastic  Europeans 
refer  to  him  as  the  greatest  of  American  physicians,  but 
from  this  judgment  Billings  himself  would  have  been  the 
first  to  dissent.  He  was  not,  in  any  sense,  a  pathologist  or 
practitioner  of  internal  medicine,  and  his  standard  of 
"greatness"  may  be  estimated  from  one  of  his  well-known 
utterances:  "The  John  Hunter,  or  Virchow,  of  the 
United  States  has  not  yet  given  any  sign  of  existence. " 
Yet,  with  the  single  exception  of  Mitchell,  he  was  certainly, 
in  solid  accomplishment  and  versatility,  the  most  re- 
markable American  physician  of  his  period. 

In  attempting  to  estimate  his  position  in  the  history  of 
medicine,  he  must  be  judged  in  relation  to  his  country,  and 
it  is  safe  to  say  that  he  did  more  to  advance  the  status  of 
American  medicine  than  any  other  man  of  his  time. 
Leaving  out  of  the  count  his  career  in  operative  surgery,  in 
which  he  did  not  work  long  enough  to  achieve  eminence, 
we  may  establish  this  proposition  by  briefly  considering 
what  he  did  in  his  chosen  fields  of  activity — medical 
bibliography,  hospital  construction,  hygiene  and  sanitary 
engineering,  vital  and  medical  statistics,  and  the  ad- 
vancement of  medical  education  and  medical  literature. 

The  work  upon  which  Billings's  name  and  fame  most 
securely  rests,  what  Osier  styled  his  "float  down  to  pos- 
terity," is  the  Index  Catalogue  of  the  Library  of  the 
Surgeon-General's  Office.  In  medical  bibliography,  he  had 
many  others  before  him — Conrad  Gesner,  Merklin,  Haller, 
Ploucquet,  Young,  Forbes,  Atkinson,  Callisen,  Watts, 
Hain,  Choulant,  Haeser — but,  as  Osier  has  said,  "their 
efforts  are  Lilliputian  beside  the  Gargantuan  undertaking 
of  the  Surgeon-General's  Office";  for  Billings  was  the  first 
to  catalogue  and  classify  the  entire  literature  of  medicine  in 
all  its  branches,  and  the  magnitude  of  his  work  may  be 


338  JoHn.  SHaw  Billing's 

estimated  from  the  simple  fact  that,  from  the  beginning  of 
the  nineteenth  century,  most  medical  papers  of  scientific 
importance  have  been  buried  in  the  files  of  periodicals. 
Haller,  in  the  eighteenth  century,  achieved  his  admirable 
bibliographies  of  anatomy,  physiology,  botany,  internal 
medicine,  and  surgery,  complete  summaries  of  the  litera- 
ture of  these  subjects  to  the  date  of  his  several  publications; 
but,  in  Haller's  day,  there  was  little  periodical  literature  to 
speak  of,  and  this  master  of  medicine,  its  greatest  bibliog- 
rapher before  Billings,  had  the  comparatively  simple 
task  of  listing  books,  theses,  and  pamphlets.  After  Haller 
came  the  Danish  surgeon  Callisen,  who  made  a  complete 
author  catalogue  of  the  medical  literature  of  the  last  half 
of  the  eighteenth  century  and  the  first  third  of  the  nine- 
teenth, a  wonderful  performance  for  a  single  individual 
and  supplementing  Haller's  work.  Meanwhile,  Boerhaave, 
Blumenbach,  and  Young  in  the  eighteenth  century  had 
begun  to  catalogue  special  branches  of  medicine,  in  parti- 
cular medical  history,  and,  in  the  nineteenth,  Ludwig 
Hain  made  his  great  repertory  of  the  incunabula  (1826-28) ; 
Ludwig  Choulant  catalogued  the  older  medical  classics, 
the  graphic  incunabula  of  anatomy  and  medicine,  as  also 
the  literature  of  medical  history;  and  Haeser,  in  1862, 
made  a  capital  bibliography  of  epidemic  diseases  which, 
with  the  Additamenta  of  Thierf elder,  has  been  a  standard 
source  of  reference  to  date.  Billings's  plan  of  making  an 
Index  Catalogue  of  authors  and  subjects  in  strict  diction- 
ary order  gave  physicians  practicable  access  to  every- 
thing of  scientific  value  in  medical  literature,  and  it  is  no 
exaggeration  to  say  that  the  wise  have  used  it  to  eminent 
advantage.  Enough  has  already  been  said  to  indicate  the 
value  of  this  work  to  the  medical  profession.  The  author 
bibliographies  make  it,  as  von  Winckel  said,  the  greatest 
of  biographical  dictionaries  of  physicians.  The  subject 
bibliographies  made  many  investigations  and  the  composi- 


Scientific  and  Literary  "WorK  339 

tion  of  many  valuable  books  and  papers  possible  which 
might  not  otherwise  have  been  printed ;  and  apart  from  this 
it  is  known  that  a  very  real  improvement  in  the  quality, 
not  to  mention  the  less  praiseworthy  increase  in  the 
quantity,  of  the  medical  literature  of  the  United  States, 
was  apparent  during  and  following  its  publication.  The 
Index  Medicus,  the  redaction  of  which  was  largely  the 
work  of  Dr.  Fletcher,  gave  the  medical  profession  a 
monthly  Index  Catalogue  of  current  medical  literature, 
much  of  which  is  contained  in  hundreds  of  periodicals  in- 
accessible to  the  average  physician.  Its  continuance  by 
the  Carnegie  Institution  of  Washington  is  a  sufficient 
proof  of  its  worth  and  value  as  a  scientific  tool.  All  in  all, 
the  Index  Catalogue  will  immortalize  the  name  of  Billings 
so  long  as  medical  literature  continues  to  be  consulted  by 
physicians  and  scientific  investigators.  At  the  memorial 
meeting  in  the  Johns  Hopkins  Hospital,  Professor  Welch 
desired  to  place  upon  record  his  deliberate  opinion  that 
the  Index  Catalogue  is  the  most  important  of  American 
contributions  to  medical  science  in  the  nineteenth 
century. 

During  his  career,  Dr.  Billings  supervised  the  planning 
and  administration  of  at  least  seven  important  structures 
— the  Barnes  Hospital  (Soldiers'  Home,  D.  C.),  the  Army 
Medical  Museum,  the  Johns  Hopkins  Hospital,  the  Labora- 
tory of  Hygiene  and  the  William  Pepper  Laboratory  of 
Clinical  Medicine  in  Philadelphia,  the  New  York  Public 
Library,  and  the  Peter  Bent  Brigham  Hospital  in  Boston. 
Of  these,  the  great  institution  in  Baltimore,  acknowledged 
after  its  opening  to  be  the  best  of  its  kind  in  the  world, 
established  his  reputation  as  a  hospital  constructor.  Other 
hospitals  of  larger  size  and  more  modern  type  have  since 
appeared,  but  the  opening  of  the  Johns  Hopkins  Hospital 
made  an  epoch  in  hospital  construction  as  well  as  in  the 
advancement  of  American  medicine,  particularly  of 


34°  JoKn  SHaw  Billings 

medical  education  in  this  country.  The  name  of  Billings 
should  always  be  remembered  by  the  medical  historians 
of  the  future  in  connection  with  this  achievement. 

For  a  period  of  about  twenty  years,  Billings  was  re- 
garded as  the  authority  on  public  hygiene  in  the  United 
States.  Beginning  with  his  report  on  the  hygiene  of  the 
United  States  Army,  his  reputation  in  this  field  was  es- 
tablished by  progressive  stages,  moving  from  one  strong 
position  to  another,  and  culminating  in  his  appointment  to 
the  professorship  of  hygiene  in  the  University  of  Pennsyl- 
vania. His  addresses  on  state  medicine  before  the  Ameri- 
can Public  Health  Association  and  other  societies  had 
great  weight  in  their  day,  and  while  his  efforts  in  behalf  of  a 
National  Quarantine  Service  and  of  a  sanitary  survey  of 
the  United  States  did  not  come  to  fruition,  they  demon- 
strated his  clear  vision  into  the  future  and  were  the  fore- 
runners of  real  progress.  He  reorganized  the  Marine 
Hospital  Service,  played  an  important  part  in  handling 
the  yellow-fever  epidemic  at  Memphis  in  1879,  was  the 
author  of  important  bibliographies  on  cholera  (1875)  and 
alcoholism  (1894),  many  special  reports  on  public  hygiene 
and  military  medicine,  a  treatise  on  ventilation  and 
heating  (1884),  which  was  republished  in  enlarged  form 
(1893),  and  three  separate  treatises  on  hygiene,  published 
in  1879,  1885,  and  1893.  During  his  whole  official  career, 
he  was  in  constant  request  as  an  expert  advisor  in  the 
sanitation  of  cities  and  buildings  and  as  a  sanitary  and 
ventilating  engineer.  His  official  letter-books,  which 
could  not  be  quoted  here,  are  full  of  careful  and  thorough- 
going responses  to  enquiries  in  these  fields,  made  ex- 
tempore, in  the  thick  of  harassing  duties;  and  his 
published  essays  on  such  subjects  as  house  drainage,  yel- 
low fever,  quarantine,  etc.,  show  the  extent  of  his  practical 
knowledge.  As  a  ventilating  engineer,  he  was  frequently 
called  upon,  for  instance  in  the  case  of  the  hall  of  the 


Scientific  and  Literary  "WorK  341 

House  of  Representatives  in  the  Capitol  at  Washington, 
(1876-78).  ^ 

His  treatise  on  Ventilation  and  Heating  is  an  index  of 
the  intensely  practical  cast  of  his  mind  when  applied  to  a 
theme  of  immediate  and  special  importance.  This  work, 
originally  written  as  a  series  of  engaging  "Letters  to  a 
Young  Architect, "  contributed  to  the  Sanitary  Engineer 
was,  in  its  first  edition,  designed  to  meet  such  demands  as 
Billings  had  frequently  encountered  in  his  correspondence, 
and  the  treatment  of  the  dry  subject  is  made  interesting 
through  the  writer's  vigorous  and  straightforward  handling 
of  his  theme  and  his  clear  humorous  style  of  writing.  The 
second  edition,  in  the  preface  of  which  Billings  duly 
acknowledges  his  indebtedness  to  the  valuable  assistance 
of  Dr.  A.  C.  Abbott,  is  more  in  the  nature  of  a  formal 
treatise.  The  subject  matter  is  more  than  doubly  en- 
larged, making  it  substantially  a  new  work,  with  many 
examples  and  illustrations  from  recent  practice,  drawn 
from  the  periodicals  of  the  time.  It  has  a  valuable 
historical  chapter  and  contains  everything  of  prac- 
tical importance,  including  the  many  plans  and  ele- 
vations which  Billings  collected  on  his  many  European 
tours  of  inspection.  While  it  has,  of  course,  been 
superseded  by  works  of  more  modern  type,  it  was  of 
great  value  in  its  day.  Of  the  freshness  and  vivacity 
of  the  earlier  edition  a  fair  example  is  the  concluding 
paragraph. 

The  most  wasteful  of  all  expenditures  for  a  public  building 
is  to  provide  an  elaborate  and  costly  apparatus  for  heating 
and  ventilation,  and  then  intrust  it  to  the  care  of  an  ignorant 
and  careless  engineer,  selected  not  on  account  of  his  knowledge 
of  what  is  to  be  done  and  how  to  do  it,  but  because  he  is 
"somebody's  nephew,"  or  is  an  "active  politician,"  or  is 
"  unable  to  support  his  family. " 


342  JoKn  SHaw  Billings 

Billings  belonged,  as  has  been  said,  to  the  older  or  philo- 
sophical school  of  hygienists  of  the  Pettenkofer  type,  and 
the  new  school,  which  through  the  application  of  bac- 
teriology, as  Flexner  says,  "transformed  hygiene  from  an 
empirical  art  into  an  experimental  science,"  was  just 
coming  into  vogue  when  Billings  terminated  his  career  in 
medicine.  Although  he  had  done  good  microscopical  work 
in  earlier  days,  he  was  in  no  sense  of  the  term  a  bacteriolo- 
gist. During  his  later  period,  he  had  become  a  public  man 
of  affairs,  accustomed  to  shouldering  large  responsibilities 
and  going  after  large  results  of  immediate  importance. 
For  the  minutias  of  intensive  laboratory  work  in  bacterio- 
logy he  had  neither  aptitude  nor  inclination  at  this  time. 
His  career  in  hygiene  cannot  be  judged  from  his  Philadel- 
phia period,  which  was  interrupted  by  his  appointment  to 
the  New  York  Public  Library.  Yet  during  this  period,  he 
put  up  two  important  laboratories,  and  the  memoirs, 
turned  out  by  his  pupils  during  the  short  time  of  his  actual 
incumbency,  were  among  the  most  important  contribu- 
tions to  the  subject  which  have  come  from  the  institution 
which  he  directed. 

Billings  was  an  accomplished  statist,  well  versed  in  the 
mathematical  methods  of  Korosi,  Rumsey,  Fair,  and  the 
other  writers  before  the  time  of  Karl  Pearson.  From  1878 
until  1912,  he  had  taken  an  active  interest  in  the  national 
censuses.  His  extensive  and  accurate  reports  on  the 
vital  and  medical  statistics  of  the  United  States  in  connec- 
tion with  the  census- taking  of  1880,  1890,  1900,  and  1910 
are  monumental  achievements.  In  these  reports,  he 
employed  the  usual  method  of  interpretation,  applying 
statistical  induction  from  the  figures  furnished  him  to  es- 
tablish new  data  as  to  racial  equation  and  racial  incidence 
in  disease,  and  some  of  these  results  have  been  extensively 
quoted  in  the  medical  text-books.  His  Cartwright  lectures 
on  vital  and  medical  statistics  delivered  before  the  College 


Scientific  and  Literary  "WorK  343 

of  Physicians  of  New  York  in  1889,  while  not  a  formal 
treatise  on  the  subject,  attracted  wide  attention  by  reason 
of  the  valuable  historical  and  numerical  data  and  the 
keen  practical  sense  everywhere  displayed  by  the  writer 
as  he  bores  into  the  intricacies  of  his  subject.  In  1880, 
Dr.  Billings  suggested  that  the  various  statistical  data  of 
the  living  and  the  decedent  "might  be  recorded  on  a 
single  card  or  slip  by  punching  small  holes  in  it,  and  that 
these  cards  might  then  be  assorted  and  counted  by 
mechanical  means  according  to  any  selected  group  of 
these  perforations."  This  suggestion  was  taken  up  and 
applied  by  Mr.  Herman  Hollerith  in  the  electrical  count- 
ing and  integrating  machines  which  are  now  used  by  the 
United  States  Census.1  The  use  of  circles,  with  sectors 
variously  coloured  to  represent  the  mortality  of  different 
races  and  communities  or  of  racial  incidence  in  disease, 
was  also  a  favourite  device  of  Billings.2  With  the  new 
statistics  of  Karl  Pearson,  which  employs  advanced 
mathematics  in  the  interpretation  of  correlations,  Billings 
was  not  acquainted,  but  the  concluding  paragraphs  of  his 
Cartwright  lectures  show  that  he  appreciated  the  fallacies 
and  inadequacies  of  the  older  methods  and  that,  like  one 
gazing  into  the  future,  he  had  some  insight  into  correlations : 

In  vital  statistics,  as  in  other  branches  of  social  science,  it  is 
not  true  that  the  effects  of  causes  acting  in  combination  are 
equal  to  the  sum  of  the  effects  of  each  of  the  causes  acting 
separately.  Different  causes  of  death  having  no  relation  to 
each  other  do  not  have  a  joint  effect  which  is  equal  to  the  sum 
of  the  effects  of  each  cause  taken  separately,  and  it  is  therefore 
difficult  to  bring  the  phenomena  of  vital  statistics  within  the 

1  J.  S.  Billings,  Proc.  Am.  Assoc.  Adv.  Sc.,  1891,  Salem,  1892,  xl.,  407-409. 

3  For  example,  in  the  programme  of  Mrs.  Henry  Draper's  reception  to 
the  National  Academy  of  Sciences  on  November  18,  1896,  among  other 
scientific  exhibits,  there  is  the  item:  "Plates  of  vital  statistics  of  the  28 
great  cities  of  the  United  States,  by  J.  S.  Billings." 


344  JoKn  SHaw  Billings 

boundaries  of  mathematical  formulae.  In  the  doctrine  of  this 
kind  of  averages,  time  and  number  are  not  convertible  terms. 

Statistics  apply  to  masses  of  men,  to  communities — not  to 
individuals.  We  find  a  mass  of  matter  moving  in  a  certain 
direction  with  a  certain  velocity,  and  endeavour  to  calculate 
the  direction  and  amount  of  the  forces  which  have  produced 
this  result.  In  like  manner  we  may  consider  the  tendency  to 
death  in  a  community  as  a  resultant  of  several  forces  as  indi- 
cated in  the  diagram,  and  endeavour  to  estimate  the  influence 
of  each  of  these  forces  in  producing  the  result. 

It  is  evident  that  we  can  know  little  of  the  influence  which 
hygiene  or  therapeutics  have  had  in  shortening  the  line  A  B, 
if  we  know  nothing  of  the  length  and  direction  of  the  other 
lines  of  force,  and  hence  we  must  have  the  conclusions  of  vital 
statistics  to  make  proper  use  of  medical  statistics. 

In  studying  medical  and  vital  statistics  one  is  somewhat  in 
the  position  of  a  man  on  the  deck  of  a  large  Atlantic  steamer  out 
of  sight  of  land  and  gazing  on  the  troubled  ocean.  He  sees 
many  waves,  large  and  small,  apparently  moving  in  every 
direction;  and  it  is  not  until  he  has,  by  careful  examination 
and  repeated  comparison,  learned  to  distinguish  the  ripples 
due  to  the  wind  now  blowing,  the  larger  cross  seas  resulting 
from  forces  which  were  acting  a  few  hours  before,  and  the 
long,  rolling  swells  which  indicate  to  some  extent  the  direction 
and  force  of  the  tempest  of  yesterday,  that  he  can  begin  to 
understand  the  roll  of  the  ship  on  which  he  stands;  while  to 
appreciate  the  force  and  direction  of  the  great  current  which  is 
sweeping  with  it  all  the  troubled  water  and  the  ship  itself, 
requires  skilled  observation  with  special  instruments,  and  the 
use  of  charts  which  embody  the  experience  of  hundreds  of 
voyages.  So  also  in  viewing  the  records  of  human  life,  disease, 
and  death,  the  variations  which  are  at  first  most  perceptible 
are  often  those  which  are  most  superficial,  and  which  give  little 
or  no  indication  of  the  magnitude  and  direction  of  the  move- 
ment of  the  great  masses  beneath. 

In  acknowledgment  of  the  value  of  his  work  in  science, 
Dr.  Billings  received  honorary  degrees  from  the  universi- 


Scientific  and  Literary  "WorK  345 

ties  of  Edinburgh  (LL.D.,  1884),  Harvard  (LL.D.,  1886), 
Oxford  (D.C.L.,  1889),  Munich  (M.D.,  1889),  Dublin 
(M.D.,  1892),  Budapest  (M.D.,  1896),  Yale  (LL.D.,  1901), 
and  Johns  Hopkins  (LL.D.,  1902),  and  was  made  an  active 
or  honorary  member  in  many  medical  and  scientific  socie- 
ties. On  April  17,  1883,  he  was  elected  to  membership  in 
the  National  Academy  of  Sciences,  his  name  having  been 
proposed  and  passed  upon  in  consideration  of  the  value  of 
his  work  on  the  Index  Catalogue,  and  thereafter  he  played 
a  prominent  part  in  its  transactions.  He  was  elected 
treasurer  of  the  Academy  in  1887,  serving  until  April, 
1898,  when  he  was  obliged  to  resign  the  office  on  account  of 
the  pressure  of  his  duties  in  New  York.  He  was  a  member 
of  the  Council  (1896-1907)  and  of  various  committees, 
such  as  that  on  publications  (1888-99),  and  one  of  the 
trustees  of  the  Barnard  Medal  Fund  (1900-1908).  During 
the  last  years  of  his  life  (1906-1912),  he  was  particularly 
active  on  various  committees  dealing  with  the  proposition 
of  enlarging  the  scope  of  membership  to  include  anthro- 
pologists, psychologists,  philologists,  etc.  Billings  pre- 
sented several  memoirs  to  the  National  Academy,  in 
particular  those  on  composite  photographs  of  skulls  (with 
Washington  Matthews,  1885),  anc^  the  researches  made 
by  his  pupils  in  the  Laboratory  of  Hygiene  (1894-95), 
together  with  biographical  memoirs  of  Joseph  Janvier 
Woodward  (1885),  Spencer  F.  Baird  (1889),  and  Francis 
A.  Walker  (1902).  Of  Baird,  a  man  who,  in  respect  of 
character,  was  very  much  like  himself,  he  says: 

His  remote  ancestors  were  English,  Scotch  and  German — 
an  excellent  combination  both  for  business  and  science.  .  .  . 
When  Professor  Baird  was  appointed  Assistant  Secretary  [of 
the  Smithsonian  Institution],  the  immediate  duty  to  which  he 
was  assigned  was  the  charge  of  the  library  in  the  Department 
of  Exchanges.  ...  It  was  the  possibility  of  creating  a  great 


346  JoKn  SKa-w  Billings 

Museum  of  Natural  History  that  induced  him  to  come  to  the 
Smithsonian,  and  he  never  lost  sight  of  this  object.  .  .  .  He 
could  not  have  what  he  wanted  just  then,  but  he  had  faith  in 
the  future,  and  meantime  went  on  with  his  duties,  which  Mr. 
Marsh  characterized  as  "answering  of  foolish  letters,  directing 
of  packages  to  literary  societies,  reading  of  proof-sheets,  and 
other  mechanical  operations  pertaining  unto  the  diffusion  of 
knowledge. "...  For  a  time  he  threw  all  his  energy  into  the 
organization  and  expansion  of  the  Bureau  of  Exchanges,  so 
much  so  that  his  friend,  George  P.  Marsh,  in  some  of  his 
charming  letters  to  him,  half  jokingly  and  half  seriously  re- 
monstrates with  him  on  his  enthusiasm  over  the  increasing 
number  of  boxes  and  packages  sent  out  and  received,  the 
number  of  letters  he  was  writing,  etc.,  and  expresses  doubts 
and  fears  lest  he  should  become  a  first-rate  packing  and 
shipping  clerk.  Professor  Baird  himself  never  shirked  this 
mechanical  drudgery,  never  publicly  bewailed  that  he  could 
not  do  just  what  he  wanted  to  do,  never  smote  his  breast  and 
rent  his  garments  and  called  on  the  world  to  witness  that  he 
was  a  remarkable  scientist,  and  that  as  such  he  ought  to  be 
made  much  of  and  be  allowed  to  blow  his  own  horn  exclusively, 
even  if  he  did  receive  pay  for  doing  something  else.  ...  Of  his 
capacity  for  organization  and  administration,  the  National 
Museum  and  the  work  of  the  Fish  Commission  are  sufficient 
evidence.  He  had  the  full  confidence  of  those  very  distrustful 
bodies  of  men,  the  Committees  on  Appropriations  of  the  House 
and  Senate,  and  while  he  never  seemed  to  be  urgent  in  his 
demands,  he  almost  invariably  obtained  from  Congress  all  that 
he  desired.  One  reason  for  this  was  that  he  did  not  try  to  go 
too  fast,  and  managed  to  educate  public  opinion  so  that  the 
demands  when  made  met  with  almost  unanimous  support. 
In  fact,  he  offered  suggestions  rather  than  demands,  and 
preferred  to  have  others  take  up  the  suggestions  and  deal  with 
them  as  if  they  were  their  own  original  ideas,  while  he  remained 
quietly  in  the  background,  ready  to  furnish  information  when 
desired,  but  taking  no  apparent  part  in  discussion  or  contro- 
versy, and  absolutely  indifferent  as  to  who  should  have  the 
credit,  so  long  as  the  work  was  done.  .  .  .  With  regard  to 


Scientific  and  Literary  Vi^orK  347 

those  not  immediately  connected  with  the  institutions  of 
which  he  had  charge,  he  had  grasped  the  open  secret  that  one 
makes  friends  quite  as  much  by  asking  and  receiving  as  by 
giving,  provided  it  be  clear  that  the  asking  is  not  for  personal 
benefit.  .  .  .  He  did  not  like  to  read  papers,  or  to  take  part  in 
formal  discussion,  and,  above  all  things,  he  hated  the  necessity 
of  sitting  still  for  two  hours  with  nothing  to  do  but  listen  to 
papers  which,  in  the  great  majority  of  cases,  had  no  relation  to 
his  work,  under  which  circumstances  he  usually  went  to  sleep. 
.  .  .  He  let  his  assistants  work  in  their  own  way,  ready  to 
help  or  advise  when  called  upon,  but  never  fussily  interfering 
or  dictating  minutiae  or  methods ;  so  that  each  one  felt  that  to 
a  great  extent  he  was  independent,  and  therefore,  to  a  corre- 
sponding extent,  responsible  for  good  work  and  plenty  of  it,  to 
which  the  constant  example  set  by  himself  was  a  powerful 
stimulus.  .  .  .  He  did  not  meddle  with  other  people's 
business,  and  thus  avoided  one  great  source  of  hostility;  and 
unless  a  matter  was  in  some  way  actually  or  prospectively 
connected  with  the  subjects  in  which  he  was  interested  he  had 
no  time  to  give  to  it. 

Anyone  who  knew  or  saw  much  of  Billings  as  a  civil 
administrator  will  be  reminded  of  him  in  the  above  char- 
acterization of  a  man  with  whom  he  was  in  such  cordial 
sympathy. 

On  January  4,  1902,  the  Carnegie  Institution  of  Wash- 
ington was  incorporated,  and  by  a  trust  deed  of  Mr. 
Andrew  Carnegie,  of  date  January  28,  1902,  acquired  a 
fund  of  ten  million  dollars  in  registered  five  per  cent,  bonds 
of  the  United  States  Steel  Corporation.  To  this  fund,  Mr. 
Carnegie  added  two  million  dollars  in  1907,  and  ten  million 
in  1911,  making  a  total  fund  of  twenty- two  million  dollars. 
The  original  incorporators  of  the  Institution  were  Hon. 
John  Hay,  Secretary  of  State,  Justice  Edward  D.  White, 
Dr.  Daniel  C.  Oilman,  Dr.  John  S.  Billings,  Hon.  Carroll 
D.  Wright,  and  Dr.  Charles  D.  Walcott.  On  January  29, 


348  JoKn  SHaw  Billings 

1902,  the  first  meeting  of  the  board  of  trustees  was  held, 
and  Mr.  Carnegie,  in  an  address  made  on  this  occasion, 
recalled  a  conversation  with  Mr.  Arthur  Balfour  in  which 
he  had  noted  the  difficulty  of  finding  men  who  can  legis- 
late for  their  own  generation  and  inquired,  "Have  you 
ever  seen  or  heard  of  a  body  of  men  wise  enough  to  legis- 
late for  the  next  generation  ? ' '  Mr.  Balfour  replied :  ' '  No, 
I  never  have, "  and  "you  are  quite  right;  that  is  the  wisest 
provision  I  have  ever  heard  of  in  a  trust  deed."  The 
officers  elected  to  carry  on  this  work  were  Daniel  C.  Gil- 
man,  President  of  the  Institution,  Abram  S.  Hewitt, 
Chairman  of  the  Board  of  Trustees,  Dr.  Billings,  Vice- 
Chairman,  and  Charles  D.  Walcott,  Secretary.  Among 
the  trustees  themselves  were  Dr.  S.  Weir  Mitchell,  Mr. 
Lyman  J.  Gage,  Mr.  Elihu  Root,  and  others  of  note.  Upon 
the  death  of  Mr.  Hewitt  in  December,  1903,  Dr.  Billings 
was  continuously  Chairman  of  the  Board  of  Trustees  until 
his  death,  and  as  a  member  of  the  Executive  Committee, 
he  served  continuously  from  the  date  of  its  organization  in 
January,  1902,  to  February,  1913.  Of  the  sixteen  meetings 
of  the  Board  of  Trustees  held  up  to  1913,  he  is  said  to  have 
missed  only  one,  when  under  surgical  treatment  in  1906, 
and  of  ninety-nine  meetings  of  the  Executive  Committee, 
he  attended  all  but  thirteen.  In  December,  1904,  Dr. 
Oilman  retired  from  the  presidency  of  the  Institution  and 
he  was  succeeded  in  office  by  Professor  Robert  S.  Wood- 
ward, who  then  held  the  chair  of  mathematical  physics  at 
Columbia  University,  New  York. 

President  Woodward  has  kindly  given  the  following 
reminiscences  of  Dr.  Billings: 

My  acquaintance  with  Dr.  Billings  began  one  Saturday 
evening  in  December,  1884,  at  a  meeting  of  the  Philosophical 
Society  of  Washington  held  in  the  old  Army  Medical  Museum 
and  Library,  located  on  loth  Street,  N.  W.,  Washington,  D.  C. 


Scientific  and  Literary  "WorK  349 

Dr.  Billings  was  then  President  of  that  Society,  and  it  happened 
on  the  occasion  of  meeting  him  that  I  was  the  first  speaker  in  a 
symposium  on  the  form  and  position  of  the  sea  level  and  es- 
pecially on  the  distortions  to  which  it  has  been  subject  by 
reason  of  alternations  of  glaciation  in  its  polar  regions.  My 
desire  to  become  acquainted  with  Bill  ngs,  roused  on  this 
occasion,  was  perhaps  due  to  the  trifling  circumstance  that  he 
called  conspicuous  attention  to  the  fact  that  I  had  been  put 
down  on  the  programme  for  a  certain  number  of  minutes 
(fifty  as  I  recall)  and  that  I  had  finished  my  part  of  the  pro- 
gramme on  the  minute.  It  appeared  that  his  military  training 
as  well  as  my  own  had  appreciated  the  importance  which 
should  be  attached  to  such  time  limitations  in  the  programmes 
of  learned  societies. 

From  that  time  on  until  I  left  Washington  in  1893  I  saw 
Dr.  Billings  frequently,  serving  with  him  on  committees,  es- 
pecially of  the  Philosophical  Society,  and  taking  counsel  from 
him  occasionally  with  regard  to  two  matters  in  which  we  were 
both  interested.  The  first  of  these  related  directly  to  the 
Philosophical  Society  before  which  some  of  the  mathematicians 
of  the  day  were  apt  to  read  long,  dull  and  uninteresting  papers, 
not  because  the  latter  lacked  intrinsic  merit  but  because  they 
lacked  proper  presentation.  Recognizing  this  fact  clearly,  Dr. 
Billings  and  several  others  of  us  interested  in  the  matter  sought 
to  establish  and  soon  succeeded  in  establishing  the  so-called 
"Mathematical  Section"  of  the  Philosophical  Society.  This 
enabled  us  to  hold  meetings  for  the  presentation  of  deadly  dull 
mathematical  papers  without  taxing  the  patience  of  those  not 
interested  in  such  matters.  Billings  was  a  good  counsellor  in 
all  such  matters  and  helped  to  pave  the  way  for  this  offshoot  of 
the  parent  society. 

The  other  matter  referred  to  was  that  of  the  so-called  Clerk 
Maxwell  Club,  which  was  organized  by  the  late  George  E. 
Curtis  and  me  in  collaboration  with  eight  or  ten  men  here 
in  Washington  especially  interested  in  the  electro-mag- 
netic theory  of  Maxwell.  We  formed  a  club  which  in  its 
objects  was  very  similar  to  the  Mathematical  Section  re- 
ferred to,  and  here  again  Billings,  while  not  desiring  to  take 


35°  JoHn  SHaw  Billings 

an  active  part  in  this  work,  was  ready  to  give  it  a  sort  of 
fatherly  encouragement. 

After  leaving  Washington  in  1893,  about  which  time  I 
believe  Dr.  Billings  left  also,  I  saw  him  less  frequently  until 
1897.  During  August  of  that  year  I  met  him  again  very 
pleasantly  at  Toronto,  Canada,  during  a  meeting  of  the  British 
Association  for  the  Advancement  of  Science.  We  were  each 
there  two  or  three  days  at  the  meeting,  and  we  happened  to 
leave  simultaneously  on  the  same  night  train  for  New  York. 
During  this  journey  he  inquired  very  graciously  concerning 
my  occupation  as  Professor  of  Mathematical  Physics  at  Colum- 
bia University  at  which  I  had  then  been  engaged  about  four 
years.  We  compared  opinions  also  with  regard  to  the  scientific 
outlook  confronting  us  in  New  York  City,  and  naturally  dis- 
cussed many  questions  with  reference  to  our  national  scientific 
societies  from  the  National  Academy  of  Sciences,  down  to  the 
newest  of  the  special  societies  then  rapidly  forming. 

Two  years  later  or  thereabouts,  when  I  was  elected  to  the 
Presidency  of  the  New  York  Academy  of  Sciences,  I  had  again 
occasion  to  consult  Dr.  Billings  with  respect  to  the  best  dis- 
position that  could  be  made  of  the  library  of  that  Academy. 
It  had  then  been  in  existence  about  eighty  years  and  had  been 
slowly  accumulating  a  library  chiefly  through  the  medium  of 
exchanges  of  publications  with  other  learned  societies.  This 
library  had  grown  to  very  considerable  dimensions  but  had 
never  been  catalogued  and  rendered  accessible  except  to  a  few 
curators  who  happened  to  see  books  as  they  were  received. 
This  library  was  at  the  time  stored  in  the  basement  of  Colum- 
bia University  and  in  room  much  needed  by  that  University. 
It  was  necessary,  therefore,  to  do  something  even  in  opposition 
to  most  of  the  older  members  of  the  Academy.  In  solving  this 
problem  Billings  was  of  great  aid.  We  discussed  several 
propositions  and  finally  hit  upon  one  which  was  accepted  by 
the  Academy.  What  pleased  me  most  in  my  conferences  with 
him  was  his  keen  appreciation  of  the  fact  that  the  library  of  a 
society  is  not  of  much  good  unless  it  can  be  bound  up,  cata- 
logued and  placed  where  it  may  be  accessible  to  men  who  wish 
to  use  it.  He  agreed  with  me  that  prior  to  our  times  libraries 


Scientific  and  Literary  "WorK  351 

seemed  to  have  been  established  chiefly  for  the  benefit  of 
librarians  and  bookbinders,  and  he  gave  me  the  most  cordial 
assurance  that  if  I  would  only  persist  it  would  be  practicable 
to  succeed  in  my  project  for  rendering  the  library  in  question 
useful.  It  was  finally  deposited  for  ninety-nine  years  with  the 
American  Museum  of  Natural  History  on  condition  that  this 
Museum  should  furnish  to  the  Academy  during  the  period  of 
the  agreement,  free  of  charge,  suitable  rooms  for  holding  its 
meetings,  and  on  condition  that  the  Museum  would  catalogue, 
bind  up,  and  render  accessible  all  of  the  works  of  the  library. 
Owing  largely  to  the  alternative  offered  by  Billings  of  finding 
some  other  equally  effective  disposition  of  the  library  I  was 
able  to  accomplish  the  end  attained  and  all  members  of  the 
Academy  now  agree  that  this  end  was  a  happy  one. 

When  the  Carnegie  Institution  of  Washington  was  founded 
in  1902,  I  became  one  of  its  confidential  advisers  soon  after  the 
preliminary  organization  was  effected.  This  brought  me  into 
more  frequent  association  with  Billings,  partly  by  correspond- 
ence and  partly  by  personal  interviews.  Owing  to  an  attack  of 
fever  which  occurred  in  the  summer  and  autumn  of  1902  I 
withdrew  temporarily  from  this  relation  to  the  Institution  and 
the  late  Dr.  George  F.  Barker,  of  the  University  of  Pennsyl- 
vania, assumed  the  advisory  position  which  I  had  occupied. 
A  year  later,  however,  owing  to  Dr.  Barker's  illness  I  resumed 
the  advisory  role  referred  to. 

Still  closer  relations  with  Dr.  Billings  began  in  June,  1904. 
Somewhat  to  my  surprise  about  June  15  of  that  year  I  re- 
ceived a  letter  from  Dr.  Billings  of  which  a  copy  is  given 
herewith : 

40  LAFAYETTE  PLACE,  NEW  YORK, 

June  13,  '04. 
MY  DEAR  PROFESSOR  WOODWARD: 

I  want  half  an  hour's  talk  with  you  about  some  important 
matters  connected  with  the  Carnegie  Institution  of  Washing- 
ton. 

Can  you  give  me  an  appointment  some  day  in  the  near 
future? 


352  JoKn  SKa-w  Billings 

If  you  are  to  be  in  the  vicinity  of  the  Astor  Library  within  a 
week,  I  should  be  glad  to  see  you  at  any  hour — I  merely  men- 
tion this  because  I  have  here  some  reports  and  papers  to  which 
we  might  wish  to  refer. 

But  if  this  is  inconvenient  to  you  I  will  come  up  to  the  Uni- 
versity at  any  hour  between  10  A.M.  and  5  P.M.  on  any  day  you 
prefer. 

My  private  telephone  number  is 

4757  Spring  (Astor  Library). 

Very  sincerely   yours, 

J.  S.  BILLINGS. 

It  was  generally  known  at  the  time  that  Dr.  Oilman  had 
resigned  from  the  Presidency  of  the  Institution,  and  it  was 
likewise  fairly  well  known  that  the  Trustees  were  seeking  a 
successor,  so  that  although  no  mention  is  made  of  these  facts 
in  the  above  letter,  it  was  tolerably  clear  what  Billings  desired. 
The  above  letter  is  here  quoted  verbatim  to  indicate  the 
characteristic  straightforwardness  of  Billings  in  coming  at  any 
matter  of  interest  to  him.  In  conformity  with  this  characteris- 
tic he  proceeded  at  once,  when  I  appeared  by  appointment  in 
his  office  a  few  days  later,  to  tell  me  that  he  and  several  other 
members  of  the  Board  of  Trustees  desired  me  to  stand  as  a 
candidate  for  the  vacant  position.  He  showed  me  also  with 
the  utmost  frankness  and  fairness  a  copy  of  the  proposed 
Constitution  and  By-Laws  of  the  Institution  and  discussed  with 
equally,  cool  frankness  the  prospects  of  the  situation  in  which  he 
would  like  to  have  me  placed.  We  discussed  at  length  the 
merits  (and  defects  as  we  saw  them)  of  several  other  men, 
and  I  finally  agreed  to  become  a  candidate  on  condition  that  I 
would  not  personally  ask  for  or  seek  any  influences  openly  or 
secretly  to  secure  the  position.  .  .  . 

With  the  beginning  of  1905  I  came  into  close  association 
with  Dr.  Billings  and  had  occasion  at  frequent  intervals  to 
consult  him  as  Chairman  of  the  Board  of  Trustees.  For  the 
work  before  us  he  was  always  ready.  I  recall  not  a  single 
instance  in  which  I  desired  to  consult  him  of  failure  by  reason 
either  of  his  preoccupation  or  absence  from  his  office.  In  the 


Scientific  and  Literary  "WorK  353 

despatch  of  business  he  had  few  equals.  To  a  man  constantly 
hard  pressed  for  time  it  was  a  delight  to  meet  him  under  such 
circumstances.  He  never  delayed  for  a  moment,  going  straight 
at  the  meat  of  the  question  before  us,  and  it  was  always  possible 
when  I  went  to  see  him  at  his  office  in  the  Astor  Library  to 
secure  the  greatest  expedition.  To  a  surprising  degree,  while 
he  could  visualize  the  numerous  details  of  any  enterprise,  he 
rarely  permitted  those  to  obscure  the  salient  features.  In 
numerous  instances  I  had  occasion  to  consult  him  concerning 
plans  and  specifications  for  buildings  contemplated.  Con- 
cerning the  objects  and  general  features  of  these  he  had  in 
almost  all  cases  previous  knowledge;  but  it  was  remarkable 
that  few  engineers  and  few  architects  whom  I  have  had  the 
good  fortune  to  meet  could  more  quickly  read  a  set  of  plans  and 
specifications  and  hit  upon  the  critical  points  to  be  considered. 
He  was  similarly  rapid,  clear  and  effective  as  a  member  of 
the  Executive  Committee  and  more  particularly  as  Chairman 
of  the  Board  of  Trustees.  No  one  of  his  colleagues  possessed 
so  comprehensive  a  knowledge  of  the  work,  the  history  and  the 
objects  of  the  Institution.  What  was  most  surprising  in  his 
character  to  me  was  his  unbounded  confidence  in  the  capacity 
of  the  Institution  to  execute  any  project  which  met  his  ap- 
proval. Whatever  its  magnitude,  and  whatever  the  obvious 
difficulties  to  be  expected  in  its  execution,  he  was  undaunted, 
being  quite  willing  to  undertake  himself,  single  handed,  any 
part  of  the  work  which  might  be  delegated  to  him.  Con- 
sidering that  he  understood  the  number  of  difficulties  and 
dangers  which  may  beset  any  such  enterprise  much  better  than 
most  men  understood  them,  it  appears  to  me  extraordinary 
that  he  could  enter  upon  them  without  the  slightest  evidence 
of  misgivings  on  his  own  part.  This  striking  characteristic  of 
Billings  helps  to  account,  I  think,  for  the  extraordinary  amount 
of  work  he  accomplished.  Occasionally  he  came  into  conflict 
with  his  colleagues  in  the  Board  of  Trustees  and  this  some- 
times brought  to  the  surface  an  apparently  domineering 
characteristic;  but  in  the  end  it  always  turned  out,  so  far  as 
my  experience  goes,  that  while  he  was  a  vigorous  fighter  and 
possibly  sometimes  hit  below  the  belt,  yet  he  was  as  serene  in 
23 


354  JoKn  SHaw  Billing's 

defeat  as  he  was  in  his  triumphs.  Over  these  latter  he  never 
gloated  and  over  the  former  he  never  expressed  regrets. 

By  many,  perhaps  most,  of  his  friends  Billings  was  held  to 
be  a  rather  cold-blooded  personage.  Naturally  enough,  to 
most  of  his  friends  there  have  never  occurred  opportunities  in 
which  the  opposites  of  this  trait  could  be  manifested  by  him; 
but  to  the  few  people  who  had  opportunities  to  know  him  more 
intimately  he  must  have  manifested,  as  he  has  to  me,  many 
evidences  of  those  gentler  properties  which  supplement  our 
intellectual  appreciation  of  him  by  a  degree  of  affectionate 
regard  rarely  equalled  among  men.  His  attachment  to  his 
more  intimate  associates,  like  Dr.  Mitchell,  Mr.  Cadwalader, 
and  some  others,  disclosed  him  in  lights  quite  different  from 
those  in  which  he  commonly  appeared.  Without  ever  per- 
mitting his  attentions  to  become  obtrusive,  the  degree  of  solici- 
tude he  showed  for  his  more  intimate  friends  and  associates 
was,  in  general,  much  greater  than  that  he  showed  for  himself, 
even  during  his  evident  decline  during  the  past  decade. 

Another  of  the  most  striking  characteristics  of  Dr.  Billings 
was  the  entire  absence  of  ostentation.  He  never  sought  to 
have  any  "advance  agents"  of  prosperity;  he  never  sought  to 
tell  his  friends  or  the  public  what  he  intended  to  do.  He  waited 
until  something  was  accomplished  and  then  made  a  record  of  it 
equally  without  ostentation  and  equally  without  seeking  in 
any  wise  to  take  credit  for  himself  for  any  part  he  may  have 
played  in  its  accomplishment.  In  this  respect  he  was  a  pure 
altruist,  asking  only  opportunities  for  the  accomplishment  of 
good  work  for  the  benefit  of  his  fellow  man. 

As  Chairman  of  the  Board  of  Trustees,  Dr.  Billings  gave 
his  strong  support  to  several  enterprises  of  importance. 
As  a  member  of  the  Advisory  Committee  on  Bibliography, 
one  of  the  first  things  he  urged  was  the  revival  of  the 
Index  Medicus,  with  Dr.  Robert  Fletcher  as  editor-in- 
chief  in  1903.  He  was  the  strongest  supporter  of  the 
projects  of  a  Nutrition  Laboratory  (erected  in  Boston  in 
1907-8),  the  Solar  Observatory  (erected  1905-6),  and  the 


Scientific  and  Literary  WorK  355 

Department  of  Meridian  Astrometry.  He  introduced  the 
resolution  for  the  establishment  of  the  Department  of 
Historical  Research  and  also  furthered  the  cause  of  the 
Department  of  Experimental  Evolution  and  the  Index  to 
State  Documents.  In  regard  to  some  other  projects,  such 
as  that  of  the  Geophysical  Laboratory,  Billings  was 
inclined  to  be  indurate  in  his  opposition  until  he  un- 
derstood that  the  motives  of  their  supporters  were  en- 
tirely disinterested,  when  he  gave  them  his  cordial 
aid.  On  the  other  hand  he  seemed  singularly  sympathetic 
in  his  attitude  towards  harmless  would-be  inventors  and 
discoverers  who  had  had  no  chance  in  life,  not  realizing 
for  a  long  while  that,  in  applied  science,  as  President  Wood- 
ward pointed  out,  the  day  of  the  genii  from  "the  long 
grass  and  the  tall  timber"  has  gone  by,  and  the  trained 
specialist  who  can  do  the  work  required,  if  existent  at  all, 
is  apt  to  be  in  full  sight.  President  Woodward  has  else- 
where summed  up  this  phase  of  Billings's  work  as  follows : 

He  was  impatient  with  the  verbosity  and  with  the  circuitous 
methods  of  obvious  impostors,  of  whom  the  Institution  has 
encountered  not  a  few;  but,  on  the  other  hand,  he  was  wont  to 
show  great  consideration  to  sincere  but  deluded  enthusiasts, 
with  whom  the  Institution  has  also  had  to  deal  in  no  incon- 
siderable numbers. 

The  period  during  which  Dr.  Billings  served  the  Institution 
has  been  one  of  swift  growth,  not  unattended  by  difficulties 
and  even  dangers  of  a  formidable  character.  It  has  been  a 
period  during  which  the  Institution  has  evolved  out  of  a  chaos 
of  conflicting  opinions  by  aid  of  an  unparalleled  wealth  of 
advice  and  suggestion  and  in  the  face  of  opportunities  vastly 
greater  than  any  single  organization  could  possibly  embrace. 
Among  the  essential  qualifications  of  those  charged  with  re- 
sponsibilities under  these  conditions  are  a  sense  of  humour  and 
a  sense  of  proportion.  These  Dr.  Billings  possessed  in  high 
degree.  He  was  able  to  see  readily  that,  while  the  Institution 


356  JoKn  SKa-w  Billings 

might  develop  in  any  one  of  innumerable  ways,  it  would  be 
impossible  to  develop  in  all  of  these  ways  simultaneously.  His 
grim  humour,  supplemented  by  his  wide  knowledge  of  men, 
led  him  quickly  also  to  appreciate  the  inevitable  impracticabil- 
ity, if  not  futility,  of  a  large  majority  of  the  projects  suggested 
to  the  Institution  for  applications  of  its  income ;  and  the  same 
qualifications  prevented  him  from  entertaining  any  illusions  as 
to  the  capacity  of  that  income.  He  saw  plainly  that  most  of 
the  worthy  enterprises  commended  to  the  Institution  not  only 
may  be  more  advantageously  left  for  other  agencies  to  develop, 
but  that,  by  reason  of  the  necessarily  limited  scope  and  income 
of  any  single  organization,  they  must  be  so  left.  He  stood 
firmly  in  opposition  to  all  of  the  numerous  plans  suggested  to 
the  Institution  for  distribution  of  its  income  amongst  educa- 
tional, eleemosynary,  governmental,  and  other  organizations; 
and  in  opposition  likewise  to  the  still  more  numerous  plans  for 
dissipation  of  that  income  among  a  multitude  of  minor  pro- 
jects whose  consummation  could  be  better  attained  under  other 
auspices.  He  thus  rendered  invaluable  services  during  this 
formative  period,  when  the  Institution  and  its  administration 
have  been,  properly  enough  in  the  interests  of  society,  on  trial, 
and  when  the  only  privilege  it  could  claim  was  that  of  demon- 
strating a  right  to  existence. 

Of  Billings's  influence  upon  American  medicine,  which 
he  did  as  much  as  any  man  of  his  time  to  develop  towards 
a  more  dignified  status,  enough  has  been  said  in  relation 
to  the  Index  Catalogue  and  the  Johns  Hopkins  Hospital. 
He  was  one  of  the  prime  movers  in  advanced  medical 
education  in  this  country,  the  Surgeon-General's  Library, 
largely  his  creation,  was  the  inspiration  for  the  upbuilding 
of  many  other  collections  of  value  in  different  American 
cities,  and  through  his  lectures  and  writings  on  the  history 
of  medicine,  he  may  be  said  to  have  given  the  original 
impetus  to  the  present  movement  for  its  study  and  inves- 
tigation in  this  country.  His  critical  surveys  of  the  status 
of  American  medicine  in  1876  and  1886,  although  these 


Scientific  and  Literary  "WorK  357 

gave  some  offence  at  the  time,  displaced  the  old  provin- 
cial standards  and  set  certain  severe  norms  of  excellence 
which  have  made  for  good  work  ever  since.  All  his 
occasional  essays  and  addresses  have  the  true  historical 
perspective,  and  his  History  of  Surgery  (1895)  is  the  best 
work  on  this  subject  in  English.  It  is  imbued  with  a 
genuinely  critical  spirit,  and  its  use  in  the  larger  medical 
libraries,  in  which  it  has  been  put  to  scores  of  experimental 
tests,  has  revealed  its  unfailing  accuracy  as  to  facts  and 
dates.  Buried  in  one  of  those  huge  systems  of  surgery, 
which  become  obsolete  every  few  years,  it  has  not  attracted 
the  attention  which  it  deserves,  possibly  also  because 
Billings's  mode  of  presenting  his  subject  in  this  essay  is  not 
specially  attractive.  Speaking  of  it,  he  once  said  with 
characteristic  modesty  that  he  had  only  attempted  to  tell 
of  the  men  he  knew  about;  but,  as  was  the  fashion  with 
Haeser,  Baas,  and  the  other  medical  historians  of  his  time, 
he  has  presented,  in  some  places,  long  lists  of  obscure  or 
unimportant  names,  many  of  which  are  now  forgotten. 
In  consequence,  there  is  a  certain  dryness,  a  lack  of 
"give"  to  the  style  which  is  unusual  in  Billings.  The 
introductory  paragraphs  are  of  particular  interest,  and  the 
citations  from  old  authors  show  the  wide  extent  of  his 
actual  reading.  Everywhere  one  has  the  impression  that 
he  speaks  of  nothing  which  has  not  been  acquired  by  his 
own  studies.  There  is  no  second-hand  information.  The 
paragraphs  about  John  Hunter,  James  Wardrop,  Dupuy- 
tren,  Lisfranc,  Civiale,  Malgaigne,  Nelaton,  Lister,  and 
Volkmann  are  admirable.  There  is  humour  in  some  of  his 
critical  digressions,  although,  as  stated,  Billings  has  sub- 
merged his  usual  breezy  spirit  by  attempting  to  treat 
his  subject  more  bibliographico.  He  is  perhaps  at  his 
best  in  the  concluding  paragraph,  which  estimates  the 
status  of  American  surgery  at  the  end  of  the  nineteenth 
century. 


358  JoKn  SHaw  Billings 

In  addition  to  anaesthesia,  ovariotomy,  and  the  foundation 
of  modern  gynaecology,  American  surgeons  have  contributed 
much  to  the  art  in  the  way  of  perfecting  apparatus  for  the 
treatment  of  fractures  by  extension;  of  reduction  of  disloca- 
tions by  manipulation ;  of  the  treatment  of  diseases  of  the  hip 
and  spine ;  of  the  ligation  of  large  blood-vessels ;  of  the  removal 
of  tumors;  of  the  surgery  of  the  brain,  spinal  cord,  mouth, 
jaws,  kidney,  liver,  and  urinary  organs.  It  is  true  that  the 
scattered,  unreported  "first  cases"  of  some  of  the  great  opera- 
tions by  early  American  physicians  must  be  considered  as 
entitling  the  individual  to  praise  for  his  boldness  or  ingenuity 
rather  than  as  "contributions  to  surgery,"  because  it  is  not 
until  such  procedures  have  been  made  known  to  the  profession 
and  become  a  part  of  surgical  literature  or  teaching  that  they 
have  become  useful;  but  from  the  beginning  of  the  history  of 
the  art  we  find  that  the  majority  of  the  "first  operations"  of  all 
kinds  have  been  made,  not  by  distinguished  professors  and 
famous  authors,  but  by  men  who  were  neither  teachers  nor 
authors,  and  the  names  of  many  of  whom  are  unknown  to  this 
day.  This  is  true  of  amputations,  lithotomy,  herniotomy, 
trephining,  excision  of  the  breast,  ligation  of  a  wounded  artery, 
Caesarean  section,  hysterectomy,  ovariotomy,  and  of  the  in- 
vention of  many  of  the  primitive  forms  of  some  of  the  most 
important  instruments  of  the  present  day,  "Les  petits  prophets,1* 
as  Verneuil  styles  them,  are  worthy  of  all  honour,  and  one  of 
the  objects  of  a  history  of  surgery  is  to  keep  their  names  at 
least  from  being  forgotten.  American  surgeons  have  contri- 
buted at  least  a  fair  share  to  the  common  stock  of  knowledge  in 
the  past,  and  it  seems  probable  that  they  will  do  still  more  in  the 
near  future.  They  have  been,  for  the  most  part,  "practical 
men";  it  is  only  within  the  last  twenty  years  that  the  scientific 
problems  of  surgical  pathology  have  been  the  subject  of  experi- 
ment and  study  in  this  country,  but  it  is  quite  probable  that 
the  John  Hunter  or  Joseph  Lister  of  America  is  now  busy  with 
his  preliminary  work. 

Once,  in  running  over  the  university  degrees  he  had 
received,  the  various  LL.D.'s  and  D.C.L.'s,  Dr.  Billings 


Scientific  and  Literary  \STorK  359 

said  laughingly  to  Dr.  Weir  Mitchell:  "Yes,  that  is  my 
principal  title  to  be  considered  a  man  of  letters."  The 
statement  was  as  modest  and  sincere  as  the  man  who  made 
it.  He  would  have  been  the  last  person  in  the  world  to 
regard  himself  as  a  literary  man,  in  the  sense  in  which 
Weir  Mitchell  or  Oliver  Wendell  Holmes  is  .so  regarded. 
He  wrote  almost  exclusively  upon  medical  and  scientific 
subjects,  and  the  only  excursions  which  he  made  into 
secular  literature  were  a  few  slight  sketches  for  the  boys 
who  read  the  Youth's  Companion.  Yet,  if  an  anthology 
were  to  be  made  of  the  best  things  that  have  been  written 
and  said  by  eminent  medical  men  in  all  ages,  it  is  hard 
to  see  how  the  best  things  of  Billings  could  be  excluded 
from  it.  Unfortunately  for  lay  readers,  the  wise  utter- 
ances of  great  physicians  on  many  aspects  of  life  and 
nature  are  kept  apart  as  something  purely  professional  by 
the  severe  principle  implied  in  the  "Law"  of  Hippocrates: 
"Those  things  which  are  sacred  are  to  be  imparted  only 
to  sacred  persons;  and  it  is  not  lawful  to  impart  them  to 
the  profane  until  they  have  been  initiated  into  the  myster- 
ies of  the  science."  Thousands  who  know  Rab  and 
Marjorie  Fleming,  Under  the  Violets  and  The  Autocrat, 
Hugh  Wynne  and  West  Ways,  or  the  greatest  of  all  French 
dictionaries,  have  never  even  heard  of  the  charming 
medical  essays  of  John  Brown,  Holmes,  Weir  Mitchell, 
Emile  Littre,  or  Osier,  things  which  have  in  them  not  only  a 
fund  of  inspiration  for  the  young  medical  student  but  are 
valuable  contributions  to  that  "criticism  of  life"  which 
Matthew  Arnold  thought  the  essence  of  creative  and  im- 
aginative literature.  None  of  these  men,  it  is  true,  have 
attempted  to  write  down  to  the  level  of  popular  compre- 
hension, to  cheapen  their  subject  by  vulgarizing  it,  and 
the  writings  of  Billings  are  of  an  even  severer  cast  than 
theirs.  He  was  content  to  be  read  by  such  physicians  as 
were  interested  in  his  view  of  things,  and  he  would  have 


360  JoKn  SHaw  Billings 

been  as  philosophical  in  resigning  his  writings  to  oblivion 
as  Renan  himself. 

From  the  start,  in  his  early  youthful  essay  on  epilepsy, 
Billings  had  made  himself  master  of  a  literary  style  which 
was  clear,  precise,  simple,  and  at  the  same  time  so  flexible 
and  effective  that  some  of  his  old  friends  have  wondered 
how  he  came  by  it.  One  answer  is  to  be  found  in  Goethe's 
observation  that  no  one  will  ever  know  much  of  his  own 
language  who  has  not  mastered  some  foreign  language. 
More  important  still,  no  one,  it  may  be  predicted,  will  be 
a  clear  writer  who  is  not  a  clear  thinker  to  start  with. 
Billings,  an  ambitious  youth  with  an  exceedingly  well- 
regulated  mind,  dissatisfied  with  his  rough  country  school- 
ing, aspired  to  learn  Latin,  and  in  his  school-boy  struggles 
with  a  Latin  valedictory  we  may  trace  those  ponderings 
on  the  precise  meaning  of  language  and  of  grammatical 
construction  which  go  to  the  formation  of  style  as  a  mode 
of  expression.  In  his  army  life  in  the  field,  he  had  much  to 
do,  as  we  have  seen,  with  the  composition  of  telegrams  and 
general  orders.  This  gave  him  an  ideal  once  definitely 
expressed,  that  a  literary  composition  should  be  as  concise 
and  precise  as  a  telegram.  Have  something  to  say,  say  it, 
and  having  said  it,  give  your  paper  a  proper  title  and  have 
done.  Another  ideal,  frequently  expressed  in  his  statistical 
writings,  was  that,  in  science,  facts  are  more  desirable 
than  opinions.  In  his  larger  essays  or  addresses,  it  was 
his  habit  to  unroll  a  remarkable  array  of  unique  and 
interesting  facts,  and  such  opinions  as  he  advanced  were 
drawn  from  his  actual  experience  with  life,  set  off  by 
effective  quotations  from  the  world's  store  of  wisdom.  An 
omnivorous  reader,  remembering  everything  of  importance 
he  had  read,  he  was  particularly  fond  of  citing  unique 
things  from  the  Hebrew  Scriptures,  from  Shakespeare, 
from  Luther,  and  from  those  racial  and  racy  proverbs 
which  smack  of  the  soil  and  are  the  fruit  of  actual  experi- 


Scientific  and  Literary  W^orK  361 

ence.  Traits  like  these  gave  to  his  best  productions,  such 
as  his  address  at  the  London  Congress  in  1881  or  his 
Ambarvalia  with  his  old  Cincinnati  classmates,  an  im- 
mediate interest  which  was  heightened  by  what  Dr.  Weir 
Mitchell  has  called  his  "air  of  easy  competence"  in  public 
speaking.  The  mode  of  expression,  clear,  direct,  and 
forcible,  was  simply  the  man  himself. 

In  attempting  to  give  some  account  of  his  skill  in  this 
regard,  let  us  confine  ourselves  to  "criticism  of  life"  as  the 
true  function  of  literature. 

One  of  his  favourite  problems  is  the  challenge  contained 
in  Cain's  question:  "Am  I  my  brother's  keeper?"  How 
far  is  the  medical  man  to  be  influenced  by  purely  altruistic 
sentiments?  Were  the  weak  and  foolish  made  for  the 
wise  to  take  care  of  or  shall  we  let  them  die  in  their  tracks 
as  Nature  does?  To  this  question,  Billings  has  but  one 
consistent  answer,  beginning  with  his  view  of  the  great 
hospital  movement  of  the  Middle  Ages : 

When  the  medieval  priest  established  in  each  great  city  of 
France  a  Hotel  Dieu,  a  place  for  God's  hospitality,  it  was  in  the 
interests  of  charity,  as  he  understood  it,  including  both  the 
helping  of  the  sick  poor  and  the  affording  to  those  who  were 
neither  sick  nor  poor  an  opportunity  and  a  stimulus  to  help 
their  fellow  men;  and  doubtless  the  cause  of  humanity  and 
religion  was  advanced  more  by  the  effect  on  the  givers  than  on 
the  receivers. 

Coming  down  to  present-day  conditions  in  American 
cities,  he  says : 

In  all  large  cities  there  exist  a  number  of  people  who  are  very 
poor,  who  as  a  rule  do  not  get  enough  to  eat  and  are  insuffi- 
ciently clothed,  and  among  these  there  is  a  distinct  class  of 
people  who  are  structurally  and  almost  necessarily  idle,  ignor- 
ant, intemperate,  and  more  or  less  vicious,  who  are  failures,  or 


362  JoKn  SHaw  Billings 

the  descendants  of  failures,  and  who  for  the  most  part  belong 
to  certain  races. 

These  people  congregate  in  certain  quarters  and  in  certain 
houses  which  are  adapted  to  their  means,  tastes,  and  habits — 
they  huddle  together  in  foul  rooms;  they  include  the  loafers, 
the  street  arabs,  the  tramps  and  casuals;  their  poverty  is  the 
result  of  intemperance  and  indolence  dependent  on  physical 
structure,  and  if  the  evil  results  were  confined  to  themselves 
there  would  be  little  use,  from  the  commercial  point  of  view, 
in  attempting  to  improve  their  condition.  If  we  consider  them 
alone,  we  are  tempted  to  say  with  Carlyle:  "Let  wastefulness, 
idleness  and  improvidence  take  the  fate  which  God  has 
appointed  them,  that  their  opposites  may  have  a  chance  for 
their  fate.  He  that  will  not  work  according  to  his  faculty,  let 
him  perish  according  to  his  necessity." 

But  we  must  look  after  these  people,  and  help  them,  for  the 
sake  of  others,  if  not  on  their  own  account.  When  diphtheria 
prevails  in  a  tenement-house  many  school  children  are  in 
danger,  and  the  most  perfect  plumbing  in  a  house  affords  little 
protection  against  the  entrance  of  this  disease  if  it  is  prevailing 
in  the  vicinity.  Typhus  and  smallpox  do  not  confine  their 
ravages  to  the  vicious  and  foul  after  they  have  acquired 
malignancy  amongst  them. 

Or  again,  in  addressing  the  graduates  of  his  alma  mater 
in  Cincinnati : 

You  have  your  health  and  strength,  and  knowledge;  and  by 
the  possession  of  these  you  hope  to  win  wealth  and  power,  and, 
in  so  far  as  you  obtain  these,  you  will  become  the  directors  of 
the  work  and  rewards  of  others,  and  it  will  be  your  duty  to 
take  care  of  the  feeble,  of  the  fools,  and  of  those  who  have  not 
had  your  opportunities,  or,  having  had  them  have  wasted 
them.  I  say  "it  will  be  your  duty"  to  do  this,  not  that  "it  will 
be  your  duty  to  get  laws  passed  compelling  other  people  to  do 
it."  Gab  es  keine  Narren,  so  gab  es  keine  Weisen.  Moreover, 
the  mere  giving  of  money  to  people  who  say  that  they  need  it, 
in  order  to  be  rid  of  their  importunities,  is  a  very  poor  kind  of 


Scientific  and  Literary  WorK  363 

charity;  sometimes  it  is  mere  paltering  cowardice,  as  it  was 
with  many  of  those  who  contributed  to  feed  and  push  forward 
Coxey's  troop  of  ragamuffins. 

It  will  be  gathered  from  these  sentences  that  Billings 
had  no  illusions  as  to  the  supposed  efficacy  of  social  or 
socialistic  propaganda  in  which  man  is  utilized  as  a  poli- 
tical animal  while  still  labouring  under  the  handicap  which 
Spinoza  has  signalized  as  the  cause  of  all  our  troubles, 
"inadequate  ideas."  Having  laboured  all  his  life  for  the 
great  ideal  of  a  scientific  organization  of  public  opinion, 
Billings  detested  politics  and  politicians: 

The  small  dealers  in  votes — the  local  bosses — the  men  who 
manage  the  primaries,  often  make  great  mistakes  in  the  way 
they  dispose  of  their  property,  for  they  do  not  see  that  they 
could  get  much  more  for  it  than  they  do,  and  they  do  not 
understand  that  for  all  the  free  drinks  or  small  offices  that  they 
get  they  must  pay  the  full  share  of  the  cost.  The  burden  of  the 
waste  of  the  funds  of  a  city  does  not  fall  exclusively,  nor  even 
mainly,  upon  capitalists,  and  property  owners,  but  on  the 
daily  wage-earners,  and  this  burden  consists  not  only  in  higher 
prices  for  shelter  and  food,  and  in  diminishing  opportunities 
for  work,  but  in  sickness  of  themselves  and  of  their  families — 
in  the  loss  of  the  health  which  is  necessary  to  enable  them  to 
earn  their  subsistence.  The  man  of  means  can  give  his  children 
a  chance  to  form  sound  bodies  by  giving  them  some  months  at 
least  in  the  country  every  year;  but  the  labourer's  children 
must  breathe  the  impure  air  of  foul  streets  and  alleys  without 
ceasing.  The  healthfulness  of  a  city  is  far  more  important  to 
the  poor  than  to  the  rich,  but  they  never  think  of  this  in  dis- 
posing of  their  votes. 

Important  advances  in  scientific  discovery  have  usually 
been  due  to  the  rare  intellectual  courage  of  a  few  chosen 
spirits;  but  in  order  that  these  discoveries  may  avail  for 
the  greatest  good  of  the  greatest  number,  something  more 


364  JoKn  SHaw  Billings 

than  the  individualism  of  politicians  or  political  bodies  is 
necessary.  As  armies  travel  upon  their  bellies,  so  financial 
resources  have  usually  been  the  main  coefficients  in  pro- 
moting hygienic  or  other  social  advances.  The  most 
effective  warfare  on  tuberculosis,  syphilis,  alcoholism, 
typhoid  fever,  and  other  human  ills  did  not  spring  from 
the  people  and  their  political  demagogues  but  from  insti- 
tutions founded  by  wealthy  governments  or  individuals. 
Although  by  no  means  without  the  Anglo-Saxon  sense  of 
the  value  of  material  resources,  Billings  had  nothing  of  the 
current  worship  of  wealth  in  and  for  itself.  He  regarded 
it  as  the  essence  of  modern  vulgarity.  Yet  neither  was 
he  in  sympathy  with  the  other  extremists  who  vilify  the 
rich  man  simply  because  he  is  rich.  On  this  theme,  he  is 
deliciously  ironical : 

I  venture  to  express  my  sympathy  for  two  classes  of  men 
who  have  in  all  ages  been  generally  condemned  and  scorned  by 
others,  namely,  rich  men  and  those  who  want  to  be  rich. 

I  do  not  know  that  they  need  the  sympathy,  for  our  wealthy 
citizens  appear  to  support  with  much  equanimity  the  dis- 
approbation with  which  they  are  visited  by  lecturers  and 
writers — a  condemnation  which  seems  in  all  ages  to  have  been 
bestowed  on  those  who  have  by  those  who  have  not. 

So  far  as  those  who  actually  are  rich  are  concerned,  \ve  may, 
I  suppose,  admit  that  a  few  of  them — those  who  furnish  the 
money  to  endow  universities  and  professorships,  to  build 
laboratories,  or  to  furnish  in  other  ways  the  means  of  support 
to  scientific  men — are  not  wholly  bad.  Then,  also,  it  is  not 
always  a  man's  own  fault  that  he  is  rich;  even  a  scientist  may 
accidentally  and  against  his  will  become  rich. 

As  to  those  who  are  not  rich,  but  who  wish  to  be  rich,  whose 
chief  desire  and  object  is  to  make  money,  either  to  avoid  the 
necessity  for  further  labour,  or  to  secure  their  wives  and  child- 
ren from  want,  or  for  the  sake  of  power  and  desire  to  rule,  I 
presume  it  is  unsafe  to  try  to  offer  any  apologies  for  their  exist- 
ence. But  when  it  is  claimed  for  any  class  of  men,  scientists  or 


Scientific  and  Literary  WorK  365 

others,  that  they  do  not  want  these  things  it  is  well  to  re- 
member the  remarks  made  by  old  Sandy  Mackay  after  he  had 
heard  a  sermon  on  universal  brotherhood :  "And  so  the  deevil's 
dead.  Puir  auld  Nickie;  and  him  so  little  appreciated,  too. 
Every  gowk  laying  his  sins  on  auld  Nick's  back.  But  I'd 
no  bury  him  until  he  began  to  smell  a  wee  strong  like.  It's  a 
grewsome  thing  is  premature  interment. " 

Aside  from  the  cynical  drollery  in  these  lines,  it  is  plain 
that,  as  between  the  Anglo-Saxon  or  Celtic,  the  Teutonic 
or  the  Slavic  view  of  things,  Billings  had  not  the  slightest 
hesitation  in  casting  his  sword  into  the  balance.  He 
believed  in  the  Anglo-Saxon  theory  of  life,  that  what  we 
are,  what  we  become,  what  we  acquire  in  this  world,  our 
successes  and  our  failures,  are  due  to  ourselves  alone  and 
not  to  any  artificial  social  order,  real  or  ideal.  This  is  a 
constant  note  in  his  writings.  He  did  not  believe  in  de- 
spising and  warring  down  the  weak,  but  neither  did  he 
believe  that  temperamental  weakness  should  be  paraded 
as  an  excuse  for  not  doing  one's  best.  Addressing  the 
Miami  graduates,  he  says : 

We  hear  more  of  this  waste  humanity  nowadays  than  we 
used  to  do;  not  that  the  proportion  has  increased,  but  that  it 
has  been  discovered,  and  more  attention  is  given  and  called  to 
it  by  the  press,  the  politicians,  and  the  professional  philan- 
thropists. The  proportion  of  beggars,  thieves,  drunkards,  and 
"ne'er  do  weels"  was  quite  as  great  in  mediaeval  cities,  or  in  the 
cities  of  the  last  century,  as  it  is  to-day ;  but  the  average  life  of 
each  was  shorter.  .  .  .  Speaking  from  the  statistical  point  of 
view,  there  is  a  chance  that  there  is  at  least  one  here  who  is 
even  now  on  the  verge  of  taking  the  downward  path,  who  will 
indulge  his  appetites  until  he  ruins  his  arteries,  who  will  be- 
come known  as  "nobody's  enemy  but  himself, "  and  who  may 
-curse  the  community  with  children  in  whom  there  shall  be  no 
health.  Can  this  young  man  prevent  this  conversion  of  him- 
self into  refuse?  It  is  possible,  but  he  must  do  it  now,  for  it  will 


366  JoKn  SHaw  Billings 

probably  be  much  more  difficult,  if  not  impossible,  a  month 
hence. 

Now  why  should  this  kind  of  waste  humanity  be  of  interest 
to  college  graduates  ?  Well, — one  reason  is  that  you  have  got  to 
help  support  the  people  who  compose  it.  Probably  you  are 
not  paying  much  in  the  way  of  taxes  just  now;  but  all  the  same, 
for  the  support  and  care  of  these  people  you  must  help  to  pay ; 
you  must  pay  for  what  they  use  and  destroy;  for  the  police  who 
look  after  them;  for  the  criminal  courts  which  try  them;  for 
their  jails  and  prisons;  for  the  hospitals  which  they  fill,  and  for 
the  cheap  board  coffins  in  which  they  finally  do,  perhaps, 
become  of  some  little  use. 

This  is  hard  saying,  and  to  many  who  are  familiar  with 
the  view  that  hardness  of  heart  is  no  worse  than  softness  of 
head  it  will  seem  but  a  wearisome  iteration  of  the  tendency 
of  the  fortunate  to  worship  wealth  and  power  at  the 
expense  of  human  misery.  It  is  the  frank  view  of  one  who 
preferred  individualism  to  socialism  and  who,  although 
associated  all  his  life  with  military  hierarchies  and  or- 
ganized bodies,  is  said  to  have  regarded  "boards  of  trus- 
tees, committees,  architects,  and  suchlike  as  obstacles 
cunningly  interposed  to  retard  his  progress  on  the  path  of 
life."  There  were  moments  when  he  regarded  an  or- 
ganized body,  legislative  or  other,  as,  in  Bismarck's  phrase, 
"a  great  organized  incapacity." 

In  regard  to  the  advantages  to  be  derived  from  the 
organized  advancement  of  science,  Billings  is  again  cheer- 
fully cynical: 

This  is  a  country  and  an  age  of  hurry,  and  there  seems  to  be 
a  desire  to  rush  scientific  work  as  well  as  other  things.  One 
might  suppose,  from  some  of  the  literature  on  the  subject, 
that  the  great  object  is  to  make  discoveries  as  fast  as  possible; 
to  get  all  the  mathematical  problems  worked  out;  all  the 
chemical  combinations  made ;  all  the  insects  and  plants  proper- 
ly labelled;  all  the  bones  and  muscles  of  every  animal  figured 


Scientific  and  Literary  "WorK  367 

and  described.  From  the  point  of  view  of  the  man  of  science 
there  does  not  seem  to  be  occasion  for  such  haste.  Suppose 
that  every  living  thing  were  known,  figured,  and  described. 
Would  the  naturalist  be  any  happier?  Those  who  wish  to 
make  use  of  the  results  of  scientific  investigation  of  course 
desire  to  hasten  the  work,  and  when  they  furnish  the  means  we 
cannot  object  to  their  urgency.  Moreover,  there  is  certainly  no 
occasion  to  fear  that  our  stock  of  that  peculiar  form  of  bliss 
known  as  ignorance  will  be  soon  materially  diminished. 

Again : 

As  John  Hunter  once  said  in  his  rough  style:  "No  man  that 
wanted  to  be  a  great  man  ever  was  a  great  man  " ;  and  it  is  often 
the  case  that  those  who  talk  about  the  exceeding  value,  and 
loveliness,  and  importance  of  science,  do  not  seem  to  think  in  a 
very  scientific  manner.  Within  the  last  ten  years,  I  have  had 
occasion  to  examine  about  two  hundred  essays  and  lectures 
written  to  prove  that  medicine  is  a  science, — and  each  of  them 
has  rather  weakened  than  strengthened  my  faith  in  the  propo- 
sition. There  is  a  Science  of  Physiology,  and  a  fair  commence- 
ment of  Scientific  Pathology  and  Therapeutics,  and  combining 
these  we  get,  not  precisely  a  Science  of  Medicine,  but  the 
scientific  side  of  Medicine;  that  which  deals  with  causation  or 
prediction  as  regards  disease." 

And  again: 

No  doubt  the  civilized  part  of  the  world  is  at  present  tend- 
ing to  increasing  interference  with  the  liberty  of  the  individual 
for  the  real  or  supposed  benefit  of  the  community ;  but  attempts 
to  hasten  this  progress  in  advance  of  the  education  of  the 
community,  or  without  due  consideration  of  the  manifold 
social,  commercial  and  professional,  as  well  as  the  sanitary, 
interests  involved  are  not  likely  to  produce  good  results;  on 
the  contrary,  it  is  probable  that  their  remote  effects  may  be 
the  injury  of  the  very  cause  which  their  enthusiastic  advocates 
are  trying  to  promote.  Yon  cannot  legislate  a  new  layer  of 
cortical  grey  matter  into,  or  a  cirrhosed  liver  out  of,  a  man. 


368  JoKn  SHaw  Billings 

It  has  been  said  that  the  car  of  progress  has  square  wheels; 
at  all  events,  it  bumps  horribly  sometimes,  and  the  results  of 
going  too  fast  may  be  very  unpleasant,  even  if  they  are 
necessary. 

Yet,  in  spite  of  his  frank  aversion  to  the  modern  spirit 
of  collectivism,  Billings  shows  his  military  training  in  other 
sentences  which  uphold  the  West  Point  idea,  that  no  man 
is  entitled  to  take  a  commanding  position  who  does  not 
know  his  place,  who  cannot  do  his  duty  in  his  own  parallel 
of  latitude  or  prove  himself  a  thoroughbred  in  any  given 
situation;  or,  as  Stevenson  put  it,  "The  main  thing  for  a 
soldier  is  to  be  silent  and  the  chief  of  his  virtues  never  to 
complain": 

As  a  rule,  men  who  indulge  in  personal  vituperation  of  those 
whom  they  think  are  opposed  to  them  are  not  good  leaders  or 
organizers,  and  those  who  most  severely  criticize  the  motives  of 
others  while  boasting  of  their  own  morality  are  to  be  looked  on 
with  some  skepticism,  in  accordance  with  what  ought  to  be  a 
Hebrew  proverb,  that  those  who  make  broad  their  phylacteries, 
and  who  seek  front  seats  in  the  synagogue,  do  not  make  good 
bank  cashiers.  The  great  majority  of  us  do  not  aspire  to  be 
leaders  in  any  sense;  we  are  willing  to  work  in  harness  if  it 
fits  us  decently,  does  not  chafe  or  bind  too  tight,  and,  in  a 
general  way,  is  not  made  too  perceptible. 

Elsewhere  he  is  humorously  inclined  to  that  conven- 
tional viewpoint  of  his  race  which  English  literature  has 
made  familiar  to  us: 

In  their  brief  journey  of  life  through  this  world,  the  great 
majority  of  people  must  travel  on  the  routes  and  by  the 
vehicles  provided  for  them  by  others,  and,  fortunately,  they 
are  usually  content  to  do  so.  They  move  in  groups  which  are 
"personally  conducted,"  see  the  things  they  are  told  to  see, 
try,  with  more  or  less  success,  to  admire  the  things  which  they 
are  told  to  admire,  and  their  chief  discomfort  occurs  when 


Scientific  and  Literary  WorK  369 

their  conductors  are  either  silent  or  give  contradictory  orders, 
when  it  comes  to  the  parting  of  the  ways.  Most  travellers  on 
an  Atlantic  steamer  accept  without  murmuring  the  edict  that 
"  Passengers  are  not  allowed  on  the  bridge. " 

Again,  he  gives  us  a  humorous  presentation  of  the 
Anglo-Saxon  view  of  ethics — "drawing  a  chalk  line  and 
making  the  other  fellow  toe  it " : 

Our  ancestors  were  restless,  fighters,  free-booters,  and  from 
these  ancestors  we  have  the  common  inheritance  of  energy; 
of  what  we  call  "firmness,"  and  our  opponents  unreasonable, 
pig-headed  stubbornness ;  of  liking  to  manage  our  own  affairs 
and,  at  the  same  time,  to  exercise  a  little  judicious  supervision 
over  those  of  our  neighbours;  of  hatred  of  humbug,  and  lying; 
and,  in  spite  of  our  discontent,  of  a  firm  belief  that  our  wives 
and  children,  habits,  houses,  mode  of  business,  and  of  treating 
disease  are,  on  the  whole,  better  than  those  of  any  other  people 
under  the  sun. 

In  voicing  his  own  personal  preferences,  he  sounds  a 
more  refreshing  and  less  didactic  note: 

On  this  western  continent  our  idea  of  desirable  existence — 
of  the  life  that  is  worth  living — is  by  no  means  the  Nirvana  of 
the  Far  East,  and  though  we  may  admit  with  the  Bhagavad 
Gita,  that  "the  sage  in  yoga  is  as  a  lamp  in  a  windless  place," 
we  apply  this  only  to  the  very  old  sages  to  whom  the  grass- 
hopper has  become  a  burden,  and  whose  longing  is  for  rest. 

For  most  of  us,  motion  and  emotion,  effort  and  exercise,  are 
what  make  life  pleasant,  and  if  every  one  thought  alike,  and 
no  one  wanted  what  another  man  possessed,  if  there  were  no 
competitors  or  rivalry,  this  would  be  a  very  dull  world  indeed 
for  young  people. 

Perhaps  there  is  coming  a  future  time  when  all  that  is  now 

crooked  shall  be  made  straight,  when  every  doctor  shall  have 

abundance  of  cases,  all  of  which  he  can  diagnose  at  once,  and 

cure  without  delay,  while  at  the  same  time  the  welfare  of  the 

24 


37°  JoKn  SKa-w  Billings 

people  shall  be  so  advanced  that  there  shall  be  no  more  sick- 
ness, and  every  one  shall  die  in  Euthanasia  at  the  age  of  100 
or  thereabouts;  but  I,  for  one,  am  glad  to  have  seen  the  world 
as  it  now  is,  rather  than  to  have  known  the  millennium  only. 

Refreshing,  too,  is  his  response  to  a  toast  at  the  cen- 
tennial dinner  of  the  College  of  Physicians  of  Philadelphia 
(1887): 

When  Channa  told  Siddartha,  the  future  Buddha,  concern- 
ing the  first  dead  man  he  had  ever  seen,  that  he  "ate,  drank, 
laughed,  loved  and  lived,  and  liked  life  well,"  it  was  by  no 
means  high  praise ;  yet  it  were  well  if  it  could  be  truly  said  of 
each  of  us,  in  addition  to  other  praise.  .  .  .  What  we  all 
need  to  remember  at  this  time,  in  this  country,  is  the  German 
proverb,  "Es  mussen  starke  Beine  sein,  die  gluckliche  Tage 
ertragen  konnen" — that  is,  "they  must  be  strong  legs  that  can 
support  prosperous  days. "  It  is  not  my  part  to-night  to  advise, 
predict,  or  warn,  even  were  I  competent  to  do  so;  but  I  will 
venture  to  remind  you  that  such  an  association  as  this  can 
never  safely  rest  and  be  satisfied  for  more  than  a  week  at  a 
time.  If  it  does,  it  soon  becomes  liable  to  comments  similar  to 
that  made  by  a  Wall  Street  broker  on  a  certain  rich  church  with 
a  small  congregation,  viz.:  "It  is  doing  the  smallest  business 
on  the  largest  capital  of  any  concern  in  the  State".  .  .  .  The 
individual  members  can  do  but  little,  and  for  but  a  little  time. 
Pindar's  melancholy  remark  that  "  Unequal  is  the  fate  of  man; 
he  can  think  of  great  things  but  is  too  ephemeral  a  creature  to 
reach  the  brazen  floored  seat  of  the  gods, "  is  still  applicable  to 
most  of  us;  but  a  society  may  remain  and  grow.  Like  those 
organisms  which  multiply  by  simple  division  or  scission,  soma- 
tic death  is  not  a  necessary  termination  for  it. 

Mere  growth,  or  increase  in  numbers,  however,  is  not  what  is 
desired;  it  is  rather  what  the  physiologists  would  call  complete 
development  and  satisfactory  metabolism  that  are  needed. 

In  his  monitions  to  young  students  or  graduates,  he  is 
breezy,  fresh,  and  forcible,  speaking  with  the  authority  of 


Scientific  and  Literary  "WorK  371 

one  who  had  made  his  own  way  in  the  world  along  the 
most  rugged  of  paths: 

Permit  me  to  remind  you  why  the  hyrax  has  no  tail.  It  is 
written  in  the  mystic  volume  of  St.  Nicholas  that  when  the 
world  was  about  being  completed  notice  was  issued  to  all  the 
beasts  that,  if  they  would  go  to  the  Court  of  the  King  on  a 
certain  day,  they  would  be  handsomely  finished  off  with  tails. 
All  were  pleased  with  the  prospect,  but  the  hyrax  did  not  like 
to  go  out  in  bad  weather.  So  he  stood  in  his  door  and  asked 
the  lion  and  the  wolf  and  several  others  to  bring  him  his  tail, 
and  they  all  promised  to  attend  to  it.  But  they  all  forgot  it; 
and  when  the  hyrax  went  himself  the  next  day  to  see  about  it, 
he  found  that  the  supply  of  tails  was  exhausted.  That  is  why 
the  hyrax  has  no  tail,  and  if  you  rely  on  what  other  people  tell 
you  that  they  have  done,  or  are  going  to  do,  for  you,  the  result 
will  probably  be  about  the  same. 

Do  not  assume  or  affect  a  cynicism  which  belongs  neither  to 
your  age  nor  your  experience.  Second-hand  misanthropy  is 
like  a  second-hand  Chatham  Street  coat ;  it  never  fits. 

The  boy  who  believes  that  no  woman  is  as  good  as  his  mother 
and  that  no  man  is  stronger  or  knows  more  than  his  father,  is  a 
boy  that  I  like  immensely. 

Don't  indulge  in  too  much  introspection;  beware  of  private 
theatricals.  St.  Simon  Stylites  on  his  pillar,  or  an  East  Indian 
Fakir  contemplating  himself,  is  not  a  good  model  for  an 
American. 

The  public  is  not  always  sagacious,  but  in  the  long  run  it 
does  somehow  contrive  to  find  out  who  are  the  skilled  lawyers 
and  doctors. 

In  an  address  delivered,  late  in  life,  to  the  graduating 
class  at  the  Army  Medical  School  in  Washington  (April 
14,  1903),  we  find  Billings  at  his  best  in  this  kind  of  writing. 


372  JoHn.  SHaw  Billings 

His  wit  has  the  same  edge  as  of  old,  there  is  the  same 
lambent  play  of  humour  and  the  same  gravity : 

It  is  your  duty  to  contribute  your  quota  towards  the  social 
life  of  your  post,  and  to  try  to  make  it  cheerful  and  interesting. 
Of  course,  your  personal  likes  and  dislikes,  strength  or  weak- 
ness, in  such  matters  as  athletics  and  games,  shooting  and 
whist,  reading  clubs  and  amateur  theatricals,  the  nieces  of  the 
Major's  wife,  and  other  sources  of  amusement,  will  have  much 
influence  on  your  actions, — but  be  ready  to  give  some  of  your 
time  to  things  you  don't  care  much  about,  if  it  is  for  the  general 
good  and  pleasure.  You  have  got  to  take  into  consideration 
the  opinions,  feelings  and  desires  of  some  women  as  well  as  the 
men,  but  the  only  piece  of  advice  I  can  give  on  this  point  is — 
whenever  you  find  yourself  thinking  that  you  thoroughly 
understand  the  ladies, — or  a  lady — at  your  post,  you  had  better 
not  prophesy. 

In  one  passage,  we  have  the  stern  old  army  surgeon  who 
had  faced  the  fires  of  Chancellorsville  and  Gettysburg: 

If  it  is  true,  and  I  think  it  is,  that  "a  spice  of  danger  and  an 
element  of  chance  add  interest  to  work,"  then  your  work  will 
have  that  interest.  You  are  not  coming  on  the  stage  of  action 
at  the  beginning  of  a  period  of  peace  and  content,  but  in  the 
midst  of  a  waxing  tide  of  national  struggles  for  commercial 
supremacy  and  of  discontent  among  great  masses  of  people. 
That  this  turmoil  and  unrest  can  be  dealt  with  wisely  and 
justly,  so  as  to  preserve  that  which  is  most  desirable  in  civiliza- 
tion and  in  our  system  of  representative  government,  I  believe, 
but  here  and  there  in  special  localities,  the  immediate  problems 
must  probably  be  solved  by  blood  and  steel,  and  that  you  will 
have  a  part  to  play  in  some  of  these  is  not  at  all  unlikely. 

The  best  of  Billings  is  in  the  grave  and  dignified  close: 

As  members  of  a  great  profession,  as  officers  of  the  nation,  as 
citizens  of  a  great  country,  as  men  possessing  special  knowledge 
and  selected  from  many  candidates,  you  are  coming  on  the 


Scientific  and  Literary  "WorK  373 

stage  of  action  to  share  the  burden  and  responsibility  of  the 
world's  work,  to  bring  fresh  blood  and  energy  into  the  organ- 
ism, to  maintain  and  add  to  the  dignity  and  honour  of  your 
corps  and  of  your  country.  Enter  upon  your  heritage  modestly 
but  confidently.  Be  strong  and  of  good  courage.  Nos  morituri 
salutamus. 

His  cheerful  stoical  philosophy  of  life  is  elsewhere 
summed  up  in  the  peroration  of  his  London  Address  of 
1881: 

After  stating  that  modern  physicists  have  concluded  that 
the  sun  is  going  out,  that  the  earth  is  falling  into  the  sun,  and 
therefore  that  it  and  all  things  in  it  will  be  either  fried  or 
frozen,  Professor  Clifford  concludes  that  "our  interest  lies  so 
much  with  the  past  as  may  serve  to  guide  our  actions  in  the 
present,  and  with  so  much  of  the  future  as  we  may  hope  will  be 
affected  by  our  actions  now.  Beyond  that  we  do  not  know  and 
ought  not  to  care.  Does  this  seem  to  say  let  us  eat  and  drink 
for  to-morrow  we  die?  Not  so,  but  rather,  let  us  take  hands 
and  help  for  this  day  we  are  alive  together."  To  this  I  join 
a  verse  from  the  Talmud  which  will  remind  you  of  the  first 
aphorism  of  Hippocrates,  and  is  none  the  worse  for  that.  ' '  The 
day  is  short,  and  work  is  great, — the  reward  is  also  great  and 
the  master  presses.  It  is  not  incumbent  on  thee  to  complete 
the  work,  but  thou  must  not  therefore  cease  from  it. " 

It  may  be  inferred  that  Billings's  views  on  the  questions 
of  religion  and  the  immortality  of  the  soul  were  of  a  some- 
what negative  character.  As  with  all  strong  and  dignified 
natures,  he  was  certainly  reserved  on  these  matters  at  all 
times  and  places.  A  devoted  admirer  of  Stuart  Mill,  one 
wonders  if  he  had  ever  read  and  pondered  those  impressive 
pages  in  the  Autobiography  in  which  Mill  recounts  the  ef- 
fect of  his  father's  teaching.  Physicians,  at  any  rate,  have 
a  dubious  reputation  in  this  matter — ubi  tres  medici,  diw 
athei — but  where  Hunter  was  indifferent,  Huxley  antago- 


374  JoHn  SHaw  Billings 

nistic  and  Helmholtz  inscrutable,  our  author  inclines  to 
a  view  which  might  be  described  as  safe  and  sane: 

In  the  great  majority  of  cases  the  special  influence  of  the 
medical  life  of  the  present  day  is  to  broaden  the  views  of  the 
man  who  lives  it,  to  make  him  independent  in  judgment — 
rather  sceptical  as  to  the  occurrence  of  the  millennium  in  the 
near  future — quite  incredulous  as  to  the  truth  of  the  maxim 
that  "all  men  are  born  free  and  equal" — more  inclined  to 
consider  and  perform  the  immediate  evident  duty  of  the  day 
and  hour  which  lies  just  before  him  than  to  reflections  upon 
the  errors  of  other  men — free  from  morbid  fear  of  death,  and 
of  that  which  comes  after  death — and  none  the  less  a  believer 
in  the  existence  of  a  Supreme  Being  and  in  the  fundamental 
principles  of  religion  although  he  may  not  consider  them 
capable  of  scientific  demonstration. 

In  another  place,  his  views  are  such  as  might  be  accept- 
able to  a  mathematical  physicist : 

The  old  creeds  are  quivering;  shifting;  changing  like  the 
coloured  flames  on  the  surface  of  the  Bessemer  crucible.  They 
are  being  analysed,  and  accounted  for,  and  toned  down,  and 
explained,  until  many  are  doubting  whether  there  is  any  solid 
substratum  beneath ;  but  the  instinct  which  gave  those  creeds 
their  influence  is  unchanged.  .  .  .  When  we  examine  that 
wonderful  series  of  wave  marks  which  we  call  the  spectrum  we 
find,  as  we  go  downwards,  that  the  vibrations  become  slower, 
the  dark  bands  wider,  until  at  last  we  reach  a  point  where  there 
seems  to  be  no  more  movement;  the  blackness  is  continuous, 
the  ray  seems  dead.  Yet  within  this  year  Langley  has  found 
that  a  very  long  way  lower  down  the  pulsations  again  appear, 
and  for,  as  it  were,  another  spectrum ;  they  never  really  ceased, 
but  only  changed  in  rhythm,  requiring  new  apparatus  or  new 
senses  to  appreciate  them.  And  it  may  well  be  that  our  human 
life  is  only  a  kind  of  lower  spectrum,  and  that,  beyond  and 
above  the  broad  black  band  which  we  call  death,  there  are 
other  modes  of  impulses — another  spectrum — which  registers 


Scientific  and  Literary  "WorK  375 

the  ceaseless  beats  of  waves  from  the  great  central  fountain  of 
force,  the  heart  of  the  universe,  in  modes  of  existence  of  which 
we  can  but  dimly  dream. 

Perhaps  the  most  striking  of  all  his  utterances  is  the 
close  of  an  address  at  the  opening  of  the  Laboratory  of 
Hygiene  of  the  University  of  Pennsylvania,  a  structure 
planned  by  himself.  In  this  his  thought  takes  a  novel 
turn,  allied  to  the  mystic  idea  of  Henry  Vaughan,  the 
Silurist  poet,  that  such  light  as  we  have  is  but  the  shadow 
or  reflection  of  God: 

Those  to  whom  we  owe  this  Laboratory  and  its  equipment 
and  endowment,  have  been  generous  and  wise  in  their  gener- 
osity, which  has  been  in  accord  with  the  teaching  of  the  son  of 
Sirach,  "Having  grace  in  the  sight  of  every  man  living,  and 
detained  not  for  the  dead. " 

Death  comes  by  many  paths  to  one  or  other  of  the  three 
porches  of  the  microcosm  through  which  he  enters,  and  brings 
his  poppy  flowers  to  all  doors  soon  or  late ;  but  if  we  knew  that 
which  we  might  know,  and  did  that  which  we  might  do,  he 
would  be  preceded  by  fewer  heralds  of  suffering,  and  would 
arrive  only  when  we  were  ready  to  be  "hushed  in  the  infinite 
dusk." 

If  "ye  shall  know  the  truth,  the  truth  shall  set  you  free" — 
not  free  from  change,  or  from  grief,  or  from  the  final  passage 
beyond  the  veil,  but  free  from  causeless  fears,  from  unneces- 
sary pain,  from  useless  labour,  and  this  is  a  part  of  that  wisdom 
"which  passeth  and  goeth  through  all  things,"  and  is  "the 
brightness  of  the  everlasting  light,  the  unspotted  mirror  of  the 
power  of  God." 


CHAPTER  IX 

CHARACTER  AND  PERSONALITY 

DR.  BILLINGS,  in  the  prime  of  his  life,  was  a  tall 
figure  of  powerful  build  and  commanding  appear- 
ance, with  a  handsome  head,  a  straight,  refined 
nose  of  the  Napoleonic  type,  and  clear  open  blue  eyes. 
The  whole  man  was  in  the  strong,  earnest  look  of  those 
remarkable  eyes,  which,  however  dim  they  may  have 
become  in  old  age  from  long  vigils  of  close  night  work, 
always  retained  something  of  the  direct  military  glance, 
the  background  of  sadness  and  isolation  which  we  asso- 
ciate with  the  wide  orbits  of  Bismarck. 

The  name  Billings  suggests  at  once  his  Scandinavian 
ancestry,  and  his  middle  name,  Shaw,  the  Scottish  element 
in  his  composition.  He  was  of  straight  Massachusetts 
stock  on  both  sides  of  his  house,  a  Westerner  carved  out 
of  New  England  granite.  The  different  plies  in  his  charac- 
ter were  homogeneous  and  made  for  strength.  A  Norse 
Viking,  with  the  blood  of  Scandinavian  sea-fighters  in  his 
veins,  the  "defect  of  his  qualities, "  if  to  be  superbly  strong 
is  a  defect,  was  an  excess,  not  only  of  manliness,  but  of 
masculinity  in  his  composition.  He  was  a  splendid 
example  of  das  rein  Mannliche,  and  there  does  not  appear 
to  have  been  a  trace  of  the  brooding  Celt  in  him.  His 
jokes  were,  all  of  them,  Anglo-Saxon  jokes,  chaffing  the 
"under  dog"  with  pleasant  veiled  irony,  with  no  touch  of 

376 


CHaracter  and  Personality  377 

the  Celtic  whim  of  taking  up  the  cudgels  for  the  weak  and 
unfortunate.  Kind,  courteous,  just,  considerate  as  he  was, 
there  was  nothing  in  him  of  the  womanish  element  which 
makes  some  men  weak  but  attractive,  nothing  of  the 
childlike  traits,  common  to  poets  and  artists,  which  made 
Weir  Mitchell  seem  like  Thackeray's  Colonel  Newcome, 
one  "whose  heart  was  as  that  of  a  little  child."  Yet  he 
fascinated  the  discriminating  everywhere  by  his  unswerv- 
ing honesty  and  reliability  of  character  and  by  a  certain 
cool  detachment  and  isolation  of  mind  which  produced, 
externally  at  least,  the  impression  of  a  distant  manner. 
These  traits  will  easily  explain  the  antagonism  which 
Billings  encountered  among  those  who  did  not  understand 
him.  Like  his  kinsmen,  the  Normans  of  old,  "Nature's 
policemen,"  as  Froude  styled  them,  he  deliberately 
imposed  his  will  upon  those  with  whom  he  came  in  contact, 
but  with  that  forceful  will  there  went  a  wonderful  power 
to  see  things  exactly  as  they  are,  in  their  right  proportion, 
to  "think  straight  and  see  clear,"  and  to  deal  justly  and 
fairly.  The  Berserk  lurked  in  the  background,  but  was 
veiled  by  a  patient,  thoughtful  courtesy.  One  of  the  best 
of  his  English  friends,  Sir  Lauder  Brunton,  thus  describes 
him: 

It  is  only  when  one  meets  with  a  man  like  the  late  Dr. 
Billings  that  it  is  possible  to  realize  the  meaning  of  the  phrase 
"Rare  Ben  Jonson, "  for  a  combination  of  good  qualities  such 
as  that  possessed  by  Billings  is  so  rare  indeed  that  one  only 
meets  with  a  few  examples  of  it  in  a  lifetime.  He  was  a 
splendid  specimen  of  what  Oliver  Wendell  Holmes  in  Elsie 
Venner  calls  "the  Brahmin  caste  of  New  England."  As  his 
name  shows,  he  was  of  Scandinavian  ancestry,  and  he  retained 
the  overpowering  strength  and  energy  by  which  his  Berserker 
forefathers  carried  everything  before  them.  But  he  concealed 
them  under  such  a  quiet,  unassuming,  courtly  exterior  that 
those  who  had  only  a  casual  acquaintance  with  him  could 


JoHn.  SHaw  Billings 

hardly  suspect  the  enormous  latent  energy  he  possessed. 
Though  his  learning  was  stupendous  he  never  obtruded  it,  but, 
along  with  an  easy  flow  of  language,  and  a  quiet  vein  of  hu- 
mour, it  made  him  an  excellent  speaker  and  an  agreeable  com- 
panion, while  his  strong  nature,  affectionate  disposition,  and 
kindly  ways  rendered  him  at  the  same  time  beloved  and 
trusted  by  those  whom  he  honoured  with  his  friendship.1 

Considering  the  main  elements  in  Billings's  composition, 
one  may  note  the  affectionate  loyalty  to  family  and 
friends,  the  preference  for  quiet  home  life, — even  (in  his 
private  letters)  the  tendency  to  sentimentalize  over 
domestic  joys  and  creature  comforts,  which  characterizes 
the  Englishman;  on  the  other  hand,  the  long  memory  for 
good  or  evil  done  him,  the  "statistical,  memorizing  habit,"  2 
the  grim  humour,  the  "easy  capacity  for  argument,"3  the 
implied  contempt  for  ineptitude,  incompetence,  or  dis- 
loyalty, which  are  essentially  Scottish;  also,  the  strong 
dislike  for  vulgar  pretence,  vain  show,  and  false  insincere 
sentiment  which  is  common  to  both  races. 

Even  as  a  child,  as  his  autobiography  shows,  he  seems 
to  have  had  the  tendencies  of  the  student  and  philosopher. 
Yet  he  was  a  man  of  affairs  almost  from  boyhood  up, 
spending  his  honourable  youth  as  a  soldier  in  the  field, 
and  more  than  half  his  life  as  a  civil  administrator  of 
multifarious  duties.  The  mainstays  of  his  strength  were 
his  wife  and  his  home.  His  private  letters  are  full  of  a 
tender  refined  sentiment  which  he  revealed  to  no  one, 
recalling  Emerson's  phrase  about  "the  sacred  habit  of  an 


1  Brit.  Med.  Jour.,  1913,  i.,  643.  *  Henry  James. 

3  Billings  was  not,  however,  disputatious.  The  algebraic  phrase,  as  em- 
ployed by  Henry  James,  implies  a  "capacity"  rather  than  an  "intensity," 
in  the  sense  of  mathematical  physics;  not  the  "insanity  of  dialectics,"  but 
the  tendency  of  the  North  Country  people  to  meet  assault  of  opposition 
with  a  prompt,  ready  answer,  holding  their  facts  well  in  hand  for  im- 
mediate use. 


Character  and  Personality  379 

English  wife."  His  domestic  ideals  were  always  "quiet 
living,  strict  kept  measure,"  and  without  them,  perhaps, 
he  could  never  have  accomplished  what  he  did.  Every- 
thing to  be  done,  every  public  duty  or  private  obligation 
was  duly  pigeon-holed  in  his  mind,  and  all  promises  were 
faithfully  kept  and  promptly  performed.  He  worked,  as 
Osier  says,  "easily,  without  fuss  or  effort,"  despatching 
everything  with  military  promptitude,  and  except  in 
hours  of  relaxation  or  vacation  periods,  when  he  threw 
himself  into  simple  enjoyments  with  zest,  he  was  accus- 
tomed to  economize  and  give  account  to  himself  of  every 
hour  of  his  waking  life.  Hence  those  whose  claims  upon 
his  time  were  impertinent  or  fraudulent  were  usually 
treated  with  an  austerity  of  manner  which  was  no  doubt 
repelling.  But  with  the  sincere  he  was  always  sincere 
and  whole  hearted,  and  marvellous  was  the  ease  with  which 
he  disposed  of  the  complex  affairs  with  which  he  had  to 
deal.  His  opinions  were  delivered  with  a  remarkable, 
bold  surety,  downright  and  forthright,  which  sometimes 
produced  the  impression  of  "snap  judgments,"  but  he 
seldom  went  wrong.  Few  sentences  went  from  his  lips 
which  did  not  wing  the  centre  of  the  target  or  near  it, 
and  he  never  wasted  words  in  business.  Thus  he  came  to 
be  looked  up  to  and  sought  after  everywhere  as  that 
rare  thing  in  modern  life,  an  absolutely  reliable  man. 

In  his  official  life,  he  bound  his  co-workers  and  em- 
ployees to  himself,  and  set  them  an  example,  by  this  single 
trait  of  reliability,  with  all  that  it  implies  of  honour  and 
honesty  and  fair  dealing.  His  ways  were  almost  uniformly 
patient,  quiet,  businesslike,  and  when  slight  gusts  of  im- 
patience or  anger  occurred,  they  were  inevitably  due,  as  his 
intimates  knew,  to  the  severe  internal  malady  from  which 
he  suffered  all  his  life.  Where  forceful  action  was  neces- 
sary, as  in  dealing  with  pretentious  or  intrusive  impostors, 
he  sometimes  employed  the  Napoleonic  trait  of  simulating 


380  JoHn  SHaw  Billings 

anger,  enjoying  the  humorous  experience  in  the  back- 
ground of  his  mind.  On  one  occasion,  a  certain  physician 
of  idle  habits  and  meddlesome  disposition,  had  taken  it 
upon  himself  to  haunt  the  laboratories  of  the  Army  Medi- 
cal Museum,  trifling  with  the  delicate  apparatus  and 
offering  irrelevant  suggestions  to  the  expert  in  charge,  who 
seems  to  have  made  no  effort  to  get  rid  of  him.  Suddenly, 
one  day,  the  tall  commanding  figure  of  Billings  appeared 
in  the  doorway,  and,  flashing  his  handsome  blue  eyes 
alternately  at  his  assistant  and  the  intruder,  he  vociferated 
with  an  apparent  crescendo  of  anger:  "This  man,  who 
loiters  around  these  premises,  tampering  with  valuable 
instruments,  who  is  he  and  what  is  he?" — bringing  the 
laboratory  man  up  to  a  right  notion  of  his  duty  and 
causing  the  meddler  to  slink  away.  On  another  occasion, 
he  directed  an  official  who  had  come  on  a  self-imposed 
"  tour  of  inspection, "  to  go  about  his  business.  "  I  am  the 
officer  in  charge  here,"  he  said,  "and  perfectly  competent 
to  attend  to  my  own  affairs."  "Don't  meddle  with  my 
men, "  was  his  watchword  when,  Wotan-like,  he  descended 
upon  congressional  committee  rooms  or  departmental 
chambers  in  their  behalf.  This  shows  his  feeling  toward 
his  men  of  whom  he  required  only  loyalty,  competence, 
and  honesty.  Whatever  of  sternness  went  into  his  official 
dealings,  such  as  whistling  the  incompetent  down  the 
wind,  was  simply  due  to  the  fact  that  he  regarded  his  own 
relation  to  the  government  as  a  fiduciary  relation,  setting 
an  example  to  all  by  his  punctuality  and  his  steady  order 
of  work.  So  long  as  men  were  punctual  and  reliable,  he 
cared  nothing  whatever  about  their  foibles  and  peculiari- 
ties. It  was  once  objected  to  him  that  a  certain  foreigner 
in  his  employ  had  unfortunate  periods  of  wild  dissipation. 
"The  man's  work  is  valuable  to  me, "  he  replied,  " I  cannot 
worry  about  his  morals,  poor  devil ! "  On  another  occasion 
looking  in  at  a  door,  he  happened  upon  two  of  his  younger 


CKaracter  and  Personality  381 

men  engaged  in  wrestling  at  lunch  hour,  and  patiently 
waited  outside  until  they  were  through,  thereupon  trans- 
acting business  as  if  nothing  had  happened.  After  briefly 
explaining  his  duties  to  a  newcomer  in  office,  he  once  said, 
with  a  kindly  twinkle,  "If  your  work  is  not  found  satis- 
factory, you  will  of  course  be — dropped."  After  the 
usual  period  of  probation,  he  came  into  the  employee's 
room,  shook  him  warmly  by  the  hand,  and  beaming  kindly 
upon  him  said,  "I  am  glad  to  say  that  everything  is  per- 
fectly satisfactory  and  all  right. "  On  giving  the  same  man 
a  considerable  promotion,  he  said,  with  playful  irony, 
"Ever  heard  of  the  Cynic's  Calendar?  Then  bear  in  mind 
this  sentence,  '  Many  are  called  but  few  get  up.' "  This  or 
something  like  it  was  Billings's  way  during  his  period  of 
active  service  as  a  medical  officer  at  the  Army  Medical 
Museum.  I  never  knew  him  angry  but  once.  This  was 
in  reference  to  a  certain  neurologist  who  shall  be  nameless, 
who  had  been  dismissed  from  Billings's  employ  in  the 
early  seventies  for  incompetence.  This  man  was  given  to 
the  perpetration,  not  only  of  clinical  reports  "too  good  to 
be  true,"  but  to  diatribes  in  which  he  claimed  to  have  done 
the  major  part  of  the  Medical  and  Surgical  History  of  the 
War  and  to  have  originated  the  Index  Catalogue,  "quorum 
pars  magnafui, "  as  he  put  it,  "  sed  tulit  alter  honores. "  On 
being  shown  these  things,  Billings  attained  to  white  heat, 
not  on  account  of  the  silly  statements  made  but  through 
his  contempt  for  the  unparalleled  impudence.  This  little 
episode  was  the  occasion  of  Fletcher's  handsome  tribute  to 
Billings  at  the  Philadelphia  banquet  in  1895. 

When  he  came  to  the  New  York  Public  Library,  Billings 
exchanged  military  for  civil  administration  and  had 
women  in  his  employ.  He  adjusted  himself  to  these  rela- 
tions with  his  usual  adaptability,  and,  with  no  less  of 
forceful  character,  became  the  suave  New  Yorker.  Seeing 
his  tremendous  ardours  of  work  and  knowing  his  capacity 


382  JoKn  Shaw  Billing's 

for  concealing  sheer  physical  suffering,  his  co-workers  soon 
learned  to  love  him,  and  to  recognize,  as  age  came  on, 
that  he  had  his  "grey  days"  on  which  he  naturally  pre- 
ferred to  be  alone  and  to  himself.  Near  the  end  of  his  life, 
he  once  said  to  his  present  successor,  Mr.  Anderson,  "I  no 
longer  have  any  enthusiasm.  I  have  acquired  a  tendency 
to  oppose  new  things  and  new  ideas.  I  know  it  is  wrong 
but  I  simply  cannot  help  it."  A  large-minded  man  this, 
who  could  so  clearly  see  the  specific  foible  of  old  age.  In 
like  manner  he  was  accustomed  to  say  to  Professor  Wal- 
cott,  his  colleague  at  the  Carnegie  Institution,  concerning 
the  same  intransigeance,  "Walcott,  I  seem  to  oppose 
everything,  don't  I?"  "No,  Billings, "  was  the  reply,  "you 
are  not  opposed  to  everything,  but  you  are  sometimes 
cross  and  intractable."  Sometimes  Dr.  Weir  Mitchell 
would  quell  these  combative  humours  by  laying  his  hand 
on  his  friend's  shoulder  with  a  playful  "John,  John."  As 
Billings  grew  older,  he  seemed  to  lose  nothing  whatever  of 
his  force,  but  he  acquired  an  added  kindliness  of  manner, 
and  there  was  about  his  face  something  of  the  spiritual 
serenity  which  all  high  minds  have  towards  the  approach 
of  death.  Even  where  he  crossed  his  employees  he  did  not 
fail  of  gaining  their  affections.  To  those  who  had  known 
him  in  the  earlier  military  period,  there  was  added  to  this 
feeling  an  unusual  sentiment  of  reverence  and  respect. 
The  blue  eyes,  however  dimmed  by  age,  seemed  still  to 
retain  their  clarity  and  depth,  the  martial  aspect  abided, 
even  though  the  expression  was  softened  by  time: 

And  never  poor  beseeching  glance 
Shamed  that  sculptured  countenance. 

To  a  portrait  painter,  who  insisted  that  he  keep  his 
silvered  hair  long  for  an  artistic  effect,  he  exclaimed, 
"Why,  you  are  trying  to  make  me  look  like  a  pianist!" 


Character  and  Personality  383 

The  last  time  I  ever  saw  him,  he  was  sitting  with  Dr.  Weir 
Mitchell  at  a  lecture  at  the  Carnegie  Institution,  very 
peaceful  and  serene:  two  beautiful  old  gentlemen,  among 
the  last  of  the  noble  line  that  helped  to  build  up  American 
medicine  in  the  East,  par  nobile  fratmm,  one  not  destined 
long  to  survive  the  other. 

The  note  which  Billings  introduced  into  American 
medicine  was  an  exotic  note,  the  Norman  note.  Other 
eminent  men  who  did  much  for  the  improvement  of 
medical  education  in  this  country  employed  different 
methods.  Dr.  Holmes  relates  that  when  Eliot  began 
his  radical  reforms  in  medical  teaching  at  Harvard, 
any  protest  or  demurral  was  met  by  the  cool  deep- 
toned,  bell-like  response:  "There  is  a  new  President." 
Pepper,  in  Philadelphia,  as  described  by  Osier,  was  some- 
times Machiavellian  in  his  adroitness  of  procedure.  Any 
one  who  saw  Billings  in  action  will  be  reminded  of  "the 
love  of  strenuousness,  clearness  and  rapidity,"  the  "clear 
strenuous  talent  for  affairs,"  not  without  a  touch  of 
"hardness, "  which  Matthew  Arnold  defined  as  the  charac- 
teristic trait  of  the  Norman,  and  what  is  all  this  but  an 
evolutionary  phase  of  Emerson's  Northmen? 

The  gale  that  wrecked  you  on  the  sand, 

It  helped  my  rowers  to  row; 
The  storm  is  my  best  galley  hand 

And  drives  me  where  I  go. 

Consider  the  bold,  effective  way  in  which  Billings  delib- 
erately thrust  the  proper  standards  of  higher  medical 
teaching  upon  the  Johns  Hopkins  Hospital  trustees  very 
much  as  the  Normans  in  England  induced  the  Saxon 
leeches  to  improve  their  training  and  become  learned 
clerics.  Could  any  ordinary  man  have  said  to  these 
gentlemen,  a  propos  of  current  hospital  abuses,  "In  this 


384  JoHn  SHaw  Billings 

Hospital,  I  propose  that  we  shall  have  nothing  of  the  sort 
to  fear"?  What  made  this  statement  acceptable  and 
effective  was  not  mere  force  of  character  but  the  keen, 
clear  vision,  the  detached  sincerity  of  purpose  behind  it. 
In  the  mouth  of  an  inferior  man,  such  a  sentence  would 
have  been  hopelessly  inept.  Contrast  it  with  Billings's 
directions  to  the  writers  of  military  reports :  "Facts,  not 
opinions,  are  wanted."  At  Memphis,  in  1879,  having 
collected  his  facts,  he  told  the  bluntest  truths  in  regard  to 
its  sanitary  condition  and  recommended  the  most  radical 
reforms.  Yet  such  was  the  effect  of  his  personality  upon 
these  warm-hearted  Southerners  that  they  met  him  more 
than  half-way  in  chaffing  their  own  city,  recognizing  that 
this  breezy,  good-humoured,  sagacious  gentleman,  who 
had  come  to  help  them  out  of  their  difficulties,  was  a 
natural  born  leader  and  ruler  of  men.  In  any  affairs  of 
moment,  large  or  small,  his  rule  was  simply  to  make  a 
good  and  brave  beginning,  leaving  the  rest  to  take  care  of 
itself.  President  Woodward  once  said  that,  in  relation  to 
the  various  scientific  projects  of  the  Carnegie  Institution, 
Billings's  courage  was  sublime.  If  any  doubt  were  enter- 
tained as  to  the  feasibility  or  viability  of  a  given  enterprise, 
the  erection  of  a  laboratory  or  observatory,  the  construction 
of  a  huge  telescope  or  some  unusual  phase  of  experimen- 
tation, he  would  say:  "Why,  of  course  we  can  do  it;  why 
else  are  we  here  ? "  There  is  no  doubt  that  a  man  with  this 
talent  for  swift  and  accurate  judgment  could  have  made, 
as  General  Woodhull  says,  an  irresistible  advocate  in  legal 
procedure.  It  is  equally  true  that,  as  an  unrivalled  civil 
administrator,  he  might  have  displayed  the  same  military 
promptitude  and  precision  in  any  phase  of  the  larger  life 
that  came  to  his  hand.  On  very  rare  occasions,  he  had 
cryptic  humours,  a  trifle  metallic,  a  rapier-like  mode  of  ex- 
pression, suggesting  Lecky's  observation  that  "strength of 
character  is  inseparable  from  hardness. "  At  one  important 


CHaracter  and  Personality  385 

function,  his  contribution  to  the  festal  speech-making 
was  a  rather  long  string  of  ironical  "congratulations," 
a  trait  which  recalls  Napoleon  at  the  ball,  "proclaim- 
ing to  all  and  sundry  the  solemn  meteorological  fact, 
//  fait  chatid, " z  or  Beaconsfield  praising  a  mediocre  group 
of  paintings  for  the  high  quality  of  "imagination."  When 
seated  beside  prosy  or  loquacious  persons  at  banquets, 
Billings  was  prone  to  relate  Mr.  Carnegie's  story  about  the 
gilly  and  his  lost  Highland  luggage — "The  cork  came  out." 
He  once  told  a  lecturer  that  "No  man  living  has  the  right 
to  lecture  people  for  more  than  two  mortal  hours. "  To  a 
candidate  for  a  minor  chair  in  surgery,  he  said  that  he 
must  perform  more  operations  before  his  application  could 
be  considered.  In  like  manner,  he  once  declined  to  recom- 
mend a  personal  friend  for  a  university  presidency  for  the 
reason  that  he  was  "not  competent  to  fill  the  position." 
Of  a  Sabbatical  fellow-traveller  in  Europe,  he  wrote: 
"The  next  time  he  goes  abroad,  I  hope  he  will  take  a 
clergyman  with  him!"  In  his  Russian  journal  of  1881, 
he  says:  "Old  Polish  general  tried  to  make  me  take  upper 
berth.  No  go."  Traits  of  dry  humour  such  as  these 
may  have  estranged  some  people,  but,  viewed  aright, 
they  rather  indicate  the  impatient  spirit  of  one  whose 
mind  had  many  amboceptors  and  who  could  not  afford 
to  fritter  away  his  time  with  ineptitudes.  In  one  of 
his  private  letters,  Billings  speaks  of  "the  reputation 
of  a  rather  cynical  and  selfish  philosopher  which  many 
give  me  credit  for";  but  such  selfishness  was,  in  reality, 
what  Balzac  calls  "the  selfishness  of  the  hard  worker," 
the  natural  feeling  of  a  man  whose  public  activities  were 
self-sacrificing  rather  than  self-seeking,  and  who  did 
not  "suffer  fools  gladly."  As  Goethe  said,  Die  Meister- 
schaft  gilt  oft  fur  Egoismus.  An  old  New  England  intimate, 
who  saw  less  of  him  during  his  New  York  period,  said  that 

1  Varnhagen  von  Ense,  cited  by  Carlyle. 
25 


386  JoKn  SKaw  Billings 

Billings's  attitude  toward  his  friends  recalled  Goldsmith's 
lines  about  David  Garrick: 

He  cast  off  his  friends  like  a  huntsman  his  pack, 

For  he  knew  when  he  pleased  he  could  whistle  them  back. 

But  this,  too,  was  an  erroneous  impression  of  a  busy  man 
absorbed  in  his  work,  when  not  overworked.  His  letters 
and  journals  show  that  any  of  his  old  friends,  Chadwick, 
Wood,  or  others,  who  took  the  trouble  to  visit  him  in  New 
York,  were  always  given  a  cordial  welcome.  He  never 
went  back  on  any  of  his  earlier  Western  friends,  and  to 
his  alma  mater  and  his  classmates  he  gave  his  best.  He 
was  absolutely  uninfluenced  by  petty  snobbery.  Any  claim 
upon  himself  which  was  genuine  and  valid  was  always 
honoured.  During  his  early  life,  he  had  to  make  part  of  his 
living  by  his  pen,  an  army  officer's  pay  being  small,  yet  in 
reply  to  a  friend's  request  for  the  loan  of  a  large  sum  he 
wrote:  "You  are  as  welcome  as  the  flowers  in  May. "  He 
declined  to  give  an  employee  any  assurance  that  he  could 
protect  him  during  successive  changes  of  administration  in 
Washington,  yet  he  took  care  to  do  so,  and  even  offered 
to  help  him  by  advancing  money  to  pay  for  his  house.  He 
hated  to  write  letters  recommending  individuals  for  places 
or  promotions,  because  he  regarded  such  things  as  ineffec- 
tual, but  any  promise  made  was  always  scrupulously  kept 
as  a  sacred  obligation.  A  rare  judge  of  men  and  women,  a 
keen  reader  of  character,  he  took  most  pleasure  in  obliging 
those  who  struck  him  as  deserving  his  confidence.  Dr. 
Henry  M.  Hurd,  of  Baltimore,  relates  the  following  anec- 
dote: 

I  remember  on  one  occasion  he  told  me  that  he  had  been 
approached  by  an  ignorant  market  woman  with  a  letter  in  her 
hand  which  she  was  unable  to  read.  She  asked  him  to  step 
aside  into  a  secluded  corner  of  the  market  in  order  that  he 


CKaracter  and  Personality  387 

might  read  aloud  to  her  a  letter  from  a  wayward  son.  He  found 
upon  reading  it  that  the  son  was  in  prison  and  that  his  mother, 
fearing  such  to  be  the  case,  had  not  ventured  to  show  the  letter 
to  any  of  her  friends  or  acquaintances  in  the  market,  but  had 
waited  for  a  person  in  whom  she  felt  she  might  have  confidence 
that  he  would  preserve  her  secret.  She  had  selected  Dr.  Billings 
although  an  absolute  stranger  to  read  it  because  she  saw  from 
a  single  glance  that  he  would  be  worthy  of  her  confidence. 

Of  Billings's  attitude  toward  women,  General  Woodhull 
writes:1  "  I  think  women  would  have  liked  him  if  he  had 
given  them  the  chance.  He  didn't. "  Doubtless  while  in 
harness,  his  intense  absorption  in  his  work  may  have  given 
him  somewhat  the  viewpoint  of  Wilkie  Collins's  Scotch 
baronet,  who  opined  that  women  are  entitled  to  our  ad- 
miration and  respect  so  long  as  they  continue  to  deserve 
it.  Moreover,  his  severe  regard  for  the  truth,  his  austere 
feeling  for  duty  was  such  that  he  could  not  either  be  fas- 
cinated by  beauty  or  dazzled  by  brilliancy.  Nevertheless, 
there  were  women  of  high  character  who  held  him  in 
esteem  and  felt  honoured  by  his  friendship.  He  lived  on 
beautiful  terms  with  his  daughters  and  was  much  liked  by 
English  ladies.  Dr.  Fletcher  once  said:  "Billings  is  an 
Englishman  in  character,  but  of  course  a  Western  man  in 
his  keen  way  of  thinking."  In  general,  Billings's  feeling 
for  the  fair  sex  was  that  of  a  sincere  friend  or  a  kindly 
mentor.  When  his  young  daughter  told  him  that  some  of 
his  portraits  resembled  those  of  Bismarck,  he  replied: 
"  You  are  a  very  wonderful  little  girl. " 

Miss  Acland,  daughter  of  the  late  Sir  Henry  Acland 
(Oxford),  kindly  gives  the  following  reminiscences: 

My  first  recollection  of  Dr.  Billings  was  in  1876  when  he 
came  over  to  Europe  with  Dr.  Ezra  Hunt  about  the  plans  of 
the  Johns  Hopkins  Hospital. 

1  In  a  private  letter  to  the  writer. 


388  JoKn  SHaw  Billing's 

Dr.  Hunt  arrived  in  the  evening  tired  and  unwell  and  my 
dear  mother,  always  anxious  to  make  her  visitors  feel  at  home 
and  to  care  for  them,  suggested  that  he  should  rest  in  bed. 
Dr.  Billings  arrived  the  next  day  whilst  we  were  at  our 
8  o'clock  breakfast,  strong  and  vigorous,  having  stayed  in 
London  for  a  ball,  went  straight  to  the  Paddington  Station, 
and  came  down  by  the  newspaper  train.  He  arrived  untired 
and  ready  for  anything.  .  .  . 

From  that  day  Dr.  Billings  was  a  valued  and  familiar  guest 
in  our  house,  when  he  "came  home"  as  he  used  to  say.  His 
visits  were  always  most  eagerly  looked  forward  to  by  my 
father.  Dr.  Billings's  quiet  and  dignified  manner,  his  un- 
failing sense  of  humour,  combined  with  his  clear  and  powerful 
intellect  and  great  common  sense,  made  him  an  ideal  friend 
and  companion. 

When  I  was  quite  a  girl  and  had  a  long  illness,  Dr.  Gross  of 
Philadelphia  was  most  kind  to  me  and  lodged  near  me  in 
London,  coming  in  daily  to  see  me.  He  then  always  called 
himself  my  American  cousin.  One  day,  I  think  in  1896,  Dr. 
Billings  was  staying  with  us  after  Dr.  Gross  had  died  and  we 
were  talking  of  this.  Dr.  Billings  said,  "  Is  the  post  of  American 
cousin  still  vacant?"  To  which  I  replied  "Yes,"  rather  shyly. 
He  said,  "May  I  apply  for  it?"  "Yes,"  I  replied,  "but  you 
must  send  in  a  formal  application  which  will  be  duly  consid- 
ered." The  appointment  was  made  and  from  that  date  his 
letters  began,  "My  dear  English  cousin,"  and  the  friendship 
thus  commenced  was  only  ended  by  his  death. 

When  he  stayed  with  us,  he  rested,  but  was  always  ready  to 
go  anywhere  or  do  anything  that  my  father  wished.  If  noth- 
ing was  wanted  he  was  quite  content  to  sit  in  the  quaint  old 
garden  and,  as  he  used  to  say,  "study  the  life  of  spiders  or  of 
anything  else  that  turned  up. "  Sometimes  when  he  came  over 
to  England  in  the  summer  my  father  would  be  away  either  on 
his  yacht  or  visiting  his  sons,  but  Dr.  Billings  never  failed  to  go 
and  see  him  wherever  he  might  be.  It  is  a  little  difficult  to 
give  an  adequate  idea  of  his  relations  with  my  father,  but  it 
was  most  like  that  of  a  son  to  a  father  or  a  younger  brother  to 
one  much  older  and  with  an  element  of  protectiveness  in  it. 


Character  and  Personality 

In  the  afternoon  of  the  day  on  which  he  received  his  D.C.L. 
degree  here,  we  all  went  in  a  boat  on  the  Cherwell,  taking  our 
tea  and  boiling  the  kettle  on  the  river  bank.  I  can  see  him  now 
as  he  smoothed  out  carefully  a  paper  bag  which  had  contained 
buns  and  sat  down  upon  it.  He  was,  I  think,  a  little  tired  and 
was  even  rather  more  silent  than  usual,  until  we  told  him  that 
he  must  tell  us  some  story,  when  he  very  solemnly  began:  "A 
travelling  showman,  going  around  with  a  Biblical  panorama, 
thus  described  one  of  the  pictures,  'This,  Ladies  and  Gentle- 
men, is  a  picture  of  Daniel  in  the  Lion's  Den  and — you  will  be 
able  to  distinguish  Daniel  from  the  Lions  because  he  carries  a 
green  cotton  umbrella.' "  He  then  went  on  with  one  amusing 
anecdote  after  another,  and  we  were  never  sure  whether  he  had 
read  or  heard  these  stories  before  or  invented  them  on  the 
spot.  He  always  had  a  quaint  way  of  putting  things.  One 
day  he  wrote  to  me  from  my  brother  Alfred's  house  where 
he  was  staying  with  my  father,  "Sally  has  taken  me  under 
her  august  patronage."  Sally  was  aged  about  two  years  at 
the  time. 

My  father  used  often  to  tell  how  when  they  went  to  some 
great  public  dinner  in  London  at  which  Dr.  Billings  had  to 
speak,  he  began  in  this  way : 

"Gentlemen,  I  can  now  quite  understand  why  the  lions  did 
not  eat  Daniel.  It  was  because  they  were  afraid  of  having  to 
make  an  after-dinner  speech. " 

I  have  been  told  since  his  death  that  Dr.  Billings  had  a 
stern  side  to  his  character,  but  I  can  only  say  that  in  the  many 
years  that  I  knew  him,  I  never  saw  it,  nor  had  any  idea  of  it. 
He  impressed  one  with  the  strength  of  his  character.  "Billings 
is  as  magnificent  as  ever, "  my  father  wrote  of  him  to  me  during 
his  visit  to  Washington  in  1888,  but  it  was  strength  combined 
with  great  tenderness  and  gentle  sympathy  though  not  per- 
haps very  readily  expressed  except  to  a  few.  With  us  he  lived 
and  fitted  in  like  a  member  of  the  family  and  in  the  last 
letter  which  I  received  from  him  he  finished  up  with  "Give 
my  affectionate  regards  to  all  your  people — who  are  also  my 
people — and  be  sure  that  I  am  your  affectionate  American 
cousin. " 


39O  JoKn  SKa-w  Billings 

His  was  a  noble  soul  with  no  pettiness  in  it — and  the  world 
• — our  world  was  much  the  poorer  when  the  great  tender- 
hearted man  passed  away. 

Billings  was  an  omnivorous  reader,  particularly  of  novels, 
of  which,  during  his  later  life,  he  averaged  sometimes  two 
an  evening,  reading  himself  to  sleep  with  them.  The 
modern  novel  he  declared  to  be  "the  most  soporific 
known. "  Even  during  massage,  which  he  latterly  resorted 
to  as  a  substitute  for  the  long  walks  he  took  in  earlier 
years,  he  commonly  set  off  the  boredom  of  the  procedure 
by  reading  something,  and  for  everything  he  read,  science, 
history,  poetry,  biography,  anecdote,  he  had  a  singularly 
tenacious  memory.  He  seems  to  have  needed  none  of  the 
mnemonic  props  which,  according  to  Lord  Bacon,  make 
an  "exact  man."  Weir  Mitchell  likened  his  memory  to 
"a  good  index  of  a  vast  mental  library."  Such  jottings 
as  he  made  in  commonplace  books  were  usually  whim- 
sical jokes  or  verses,  taken  down  from  fugitive  litera- 
ture or  from  hearsay,  rather  than  from  belles-lettres  in  the 
ordinary  sense.  In  his  early  youth,  he  was  fond  of  reading 
Hobbes;  his  writings  indicate  that  he  knew  Shakespeare, 
the  Bible,  Plato,  Goethe,  Spinoza,  and  some  things  from 
the  Greek  poets  very  well,  less  of  Moliere  and  the  modern 
French.  In  the  modern  literature  of  continental  Europe, 
he  betrays  little  interest.  He  was  a  systematic  reader, 
not  of  secular  literature,  but  of  science,  in  particular  of 
surgery,  hygiene,  statistical  science,  hospital  construction, 
and  the  general  literature  of  medicine.  Apart  from  these 
fields,  his  most  arduous  reading  appears  to  have  been  in 
the  mystic  lore  of  the  far  East.  His  interest  in  painting 
and  music  was  casual  and  perhaps  conventional.  His 
New  York  diaries  record  his  attendance  as  a  guest  at  most 
of  the  operas  given  at  the  Metropolitan — Carmen,  Lohen- 
grin, Rheingold  and  the  rest, — but  betray  no  interest  or 


Character  and  Personality  391 

enthusiasm.  He  sometimes  whistled  a  few  tunes  from  the 
Gilbert  and  Sullivan  operas  in  a  purely  mechanical  way; 
and  he  was  fond  of  hearing  his  daughters  play  and  sing. 
During  the  early  days  in  Washington,  he  enjoyed  an 
occasional  rubber  of  whist,  or  a  game  of  billiards,  but,  in 
the  main,  his  was  a  self-sacrificing  life,  devoted  to  a  daily 
output  of  "horseloads  of  work."  Weir  Mitchell  says: 

When  I  once  spoke  of  the  need  for  leisurely  play  and  the 
exercise  of  open-air  sports,  he  said  that  he  obtained  recreation 
by  turning  from  one  form  of  brain  use  to  another.  That  was 
play  enough. ' 

Shortly  before  his  death,  Dr.  Billings  said  to  Weir 
Mitchell  that  the  various  honours  which  had  come  to 
him  in  his  life  seemed  unimportant  as  compared  with  the 
friendships  he  had  been  so  happy  as  to  gather  on  the  way. 
One  of  the  leading  motives  in  his  life,  as  Mitchell  said, 
was  "a  desire  to  be  loved  and  respected  by  those  in  our 
profession  whom  men  most  rightly  honour."  In  connec- 
tion with  his  work,  Billings  became  acquainted  with 
nearly  all  the  prominent  medical  men  of  his  time.  As 
Professor  Welch  said  at  the  Johns  Hopkins  memorial 
meeting,  he  knew  everybody.  His  vast  correspondence,  of 
Hallerian  dimensions,  includes  interesting  batches  of 
letters  exchanged  with  Koch,  Lister,  Francis  Galton, 
Esmarch,  Michael  Foster,  Clifford  Allbutt,  Lauder  Brun- 
ton,  and  Longmore,  to  mention  only  a  few.  Among  his 
close  personal  friends,  he  counted  in  Germany,  Esmarch 
and  von  Winckel;  in  England,  Acland,  the  elder  Ord, 
Brunton,  and  Burdett;  in  America,  Weir  Mitchell,  Wood- 
hull,  William  Pepper,  Wood,  Jacobi,  Osier,  and  Welch. 
In  England,  he  was  on  terms  of  very  cordial  friendship 
with  Dr.  William  M.  Ord,  whose  son  married  his  daughter, 

1  S.  Weir  Mitchell,  Science,  N.  Y.,  1913,  n.  s.,  xxxviii.,  832. 


392  JoKn  SHaw   Billing's 

and  for  Sir  Henry  Acland,  late  Regius  Professor  of  Medi- 
cine at  Oxford,  his  affection  became,  in  his  own  words, 
"almost  filial. "  One  of  the  most  eminent  scholars  of  that 
refined  university  atmosphere,  Acland,  like  Billings,  had 
laboured  with  all  his  powers  for  the  advancement  of  higher 
medical  education  in  his  own  country,  and  sent  a  very 
important  and  helpful  contribution  on  the  subject  to  the 
Johns  Hopkins  Hospital  trustees  in  1879.  As  Billings 
wrote  of  him: 

He  was  an  artist  as  well  as  a  scientific  man,  and  the  faculty, 
which  enabled  him  to  express,  in  some  of  his  charming  little 
water  colour  sketches  the  feeling  aroused  by  a  landscape,  also 
enabled  him  to  appreciate  and  sympathize  with  the  views  of 
men  of  widely  different  objects  and  tastes,  even  while  he  did  not 
agree  with  some  of  their  conclusions. 

Billings  wrote  to  him  in  1889: 

I  know  that  your  chief  object  in  life  is  to  make  other  people 
happy,  and  I  think  it  no  harm  to  tell  you  how  well  you  have 
succeeded  with  me  and  mine. 

And  to  his  daughter,  after  his  death : 

November  I,  1900.  I  could  not  bring  myself  to  write  to 
you  just  then.  I  could  not  find  any  words  except  dull,  formal 
phrases,  which  I  could  not  abide.  Of  course  it  is  well  with  him, 
and  well  for  him  to  be  free  from  the  troublesome  body,  but  I 
really  loved  him,  and  there  have  been  very  few  of  whose 
affection  I  felt  so  sure. 

In  the  last  years  of  his  life,  Dr.  Billings  was  perhaps 
most  intimate  with  Dr.  Weir  Mitchell  and  Mr.  John  L. 
Cadwalader,  two  old  friends  whose  quiet  tastes  agreed 
best  with  his  own  views  as  to  the  solve  senescentem. 
After  his  death,  Weir  Mitchell  said  to  Colonel  Mc- 
Caw,  at  a  reception  at  the  Carnegie  Institution:  "I 


CHaracter  and  Personality  393 

have  known  two  great  men  in  my  life ;  one  was  Wendell 
Phillips;  the  other  John  Billings."  Professor  Welch  said 
in  Baltimore:  "He  was  the  wisest  man  I  ever  knew." 
Sir  William  Osier  wrote: 

Those  of  us  who  were  his  associates  in  organisation  of  the 
Johns  Hopkins  Hospital  can  never  forget  how  unsparing  he 
was  of  his  valuable  help,  and  to  me  his  friendship  was  one  of 
the  most  precious  gifts  of  those  early  days. x 

Sir  Henry  Burdett  wrote: 

He  was  certainly  one  of  the  kindest,  most  competent,  love- 
able,  unselfish,  and  bravest  men  of  his  day  and  generation.2 

Dr.  Jacobi  wrote : 

He  was  not  really  "one  of  us, "  no  practitioner,  no  consultant, 
not  often  seen  in  medical  societies.  I  believe  there  are  many 
of  the  younger  men  who  never  saw  him.  But  all  knew  him; 
knew  he  was  above  us.  His  superior  position  was  recognized 
by  everyone.  Everybody  knew  he  had  rendered  and  was 
constantly  rendering,  services,  unique  and  such  as  nobody  else 
could  render  or  imitate.3 

The  esteem  and  reverence  in  which  Billings  was  held 
during  his  last  years  may  be  gathered  from  some  of 
the  personal  letters  he  received  after  the  opening  of  the 
New  York  Public  Library. 

Sir  William  Osier  wrote: 

How  splendidly  the  Library  seems  to  be  arranged!  I  wish 
Carnegie  would  give  the  Bodleian  a  million  dollars,  and  get 
you  to  come  over  and  put  us  in  order. 

1  Lancet,  London,  1913,  i.,  860.          2  Hospital,  London,  1913,  liii.,  671. 
3  In  a  private  letter  to  the  writer. 


394  JoKn  SHa-w  Billings 

Dr.  Jacobi  wrote: 

Pagel  says  you  had  a  birthday  two  days  ago.  I  am  late  but 
want  to  congratulate — all  of  us.  He  says  you  are  68  years  old, 
which  I  refuse  to  believe.  Naturally  I  think  of  you  very  often, 
but  never  with  more  gratitude  than  when  I  pass  the  most 
beautiful  building  in  New  York. 

Dr.  Weir  Mitchell  wrote : 

MY  DEAR  JOHN:  When  next  you  arrange  a  public  celebra- 
tion in  New  York,  you  had  better  get  a  Philadelphian  to 
manage  it.  Of  all  the  cold-blooded  performances  I  ever  saw, 
that  was  the  worst.  The  two  men  who  created,  made,  and 
carried  the  thing  through,  were  you  and  John  Cadwalader,  and 
I  did  not  hear  the  name  of  either  of  you  mentioned  in  the  whole 
performance.  There  was  no  poetry  in  it,  nor  sentiment,  not  a 
touch  of  imagination  about  this  great  palace  of  books.  I 
longed  to  get  up  on  my  hind  legs  and  talk  to  New  York.  The 
only  speech  worth  anything  was  that  of  the  President,  who  did 
have  something  to  say  and  said  it  well.  The  outward  appear- 
ance of  everything  was  beautiful,  only  man  was  vile  (as  the 
hymn  says) ,  and  really  to  destroy  for  ever  a  magnificent  oppor- 
tunity like  this  went  to  my  heart.  I  think  John  Cadwalader 
felt,  and  indeed  expressed  himself  most  distinctly  about,  the 
omission  of  mention  of  you. 

General  Woodhull  wrote : 

I  went  to  sleep  last  night  with  profound  altruistic  pleasure 
over  the  culmination  of  your  bibliographical  work  in  New  York. 
You  will  have  had  many  congratulations  upon  your  accom- 
plished service.  This  goes  deeper.  I  am  not  admiring  merely 
the  gold  upon  the  altar,  but  the  altar  itself,  with  an  especial 
feeling  for  the  high  priest  before  it,  ministering.  .  .  .  Finis 
coronal  opus  indeed,  but  I  hope  you  will  not  be  tempted  to 
withdraw  to  an  ease  which  may  possess  dignity,  but  in  which 
there  will  be  vexation  of  spirit,  simply  because  you  are  not 
constituted  for  rest.  I  have  wandered  from  my  key,  which  was 


Character  and  Personality  395 

the  thought  of  the  little  house  in  Georgetown,  of  Mrs.  B.  and 
dear  C.  (with  her  bright  child's  name),  of  our  living  on  straw- 
berries and  bread  and  milk  when  the  lady  of  the  house  ab- 
sented herself  for  the  time,  of  your  successful  struggles  with 
Virchow  and  the  German  dictionary,  while  I  pursued  my 
pleasure  otherwise.  Out  of  it  all  has  grown  an  unremitting 
friendship  and  this  culminating  delight. 

The  man  to  whom  these  tributes  were  written  was  some- 
times rugged  and  downright  in  his  handling  of  affairs,  a 
Viking,  no  doubt,  but  it  is  through  the  friends  he  attracted 
to  himself  that  we  must  see  his  whole  personality.  There 
was  absolutely  nothing  small  or  mean  about  him,  and,  in 
all  his  private  relations,  there  was  a  vast  amount  of  gentle 
sympathy  which  was  usually  implied  rather  than  expressed. 
No  one  could  look  into  the  eyes  of  this  remarkable  man  for 
long  together  without  realizing  that  he  was  in  the  presence 
of  a  personality  of  the  first  order,  "honest  as  the  tides," 
strong  and  tireless  and  reliable  as  Nature,  clean  and  pure 
and  simple  as  the  great  forces  in  Nature — 

Who,  though  so  noble,  share  in  the  world's  toil, 
And  though  so  task'd,  keep  free  from  dust  and  soil. 

As  Henry  James  said  of  Lowell : 

He  was  strong  without  narrowness;  he  was  wise  without 
bitterness  and  bright  without  folly.  That  appears  for  the  most 
part  the  clearest  ideal  of  those  who  handle  the  English  form, 
and  he  was  altogether  in  the  straight  tradition.  This  tradition 
will  surely  not  forfeit  its  great  part  in  the  world  so  long  as  we 
continue  occasionally  to  know  it  by  what  is  so  solid  in  per- 
formance and  so  stainless  in  character. 


APPENDICES 

I 

GENEALOGY  OF  THE  BILLINGS  FAMILY 
(Prepared  by  the  late  Mrs.  John  S.  Billings) 

The  family  of  Billings  derives  its  name  from  its  ancient 
inheritance,  Billing,  a  village  in  the  County  of  Northampton, 
where,  and  in  the  neighbouring  places,  they  resided  many 
hundred  years. 

The  earliest  notice  we  have  of  the  family  is  found  in  the 
ancient  records  of  the  time  of  Henry  the  Third,  when  in  the 
sixth  year  of  his  reign  (A.D.  1221)  a  fine  was  levied  between 
Sarah  the  daughter  of  Warine  Falconer,  demandant,  and 
Henry  de  Billing,  and  Wimar  his  wife,  deforciants  of  a  moiety 
of  three  virgates  of  land  in  Rushden,  Northamptonshire,  to  the 
use  of  the  said  Henry  de  Billing. 

By  the  requisition  taken  in  the  same  reign,  Henry  de  Billing 
was  certified  to  hold  a  sixth  part  of  one  knight  fee,  in  Rushden, 
of  William,  Earl  of  Ferrars,  of  the  honour  of  Peverel. 

From  this  time  for  about  two  centuries  we  have  no  trace  of 
the  family  until  we  find  John  Billing,  of  Rowell,  who  was 
patron  of  the  church  of  Colly- Weston  and  also  had  lands  in 
Rushden.  He  was  the  father  of  two  sons,  Thomas  and  John, 
the  latter  of  whom  died  on  the  nineteenth  of  March,  1478,  and 
was  buried  at  Woodford  Church,  where,  on  a  marble  slab  at 
the  upper  end  of  the  south  aisle,  was,  in  brass  the  figure  of  a 
man  completely  armed,  and  on  a  brass  tablet  at  his  feet  this 
inscription:  "  Hie  jacet  Johannes  Billyng  Armiger  qui  obiit 
xix  die  mensis  Martii,  Anno  Domini  Millimo  CCCCLXXVIII 
cujus  anime  propicietur  Deus.  Amen." 

397 


JoHn  SHaw  Billing's 

He  left  an  only  daughter,  Dowsabel,  who  was  married  to 
William  Brooke,  of  Astwell  of  Northamptonshire  to  whom  she 
carried  the  estates  derived  from  her  father. 

Sir  Thomas  Billing,  the  eldest  son  of  John  Billing  of  Rowell, 
was  of  the  Inns  of  Court  and  was  called  to  the  bar.  He  was 
made  serjeant-at-law  in  1453,  and  knighted,  in  1458,  for  taking 
prominent  part  with  the  Lancastrian  party.  When  the  right 
to  the  crown  was  argued  (1466),  he  appeared  at  the  bar  of  the 
House  of  Lords  as  counsel  for  Henry  the  Sixth,  leading  the 
Attorney  and  Solicitor-General.  He  was  the  principal  law 
advisor  to  Edward  the  Fourth,  and  in  1465  was  made  Justice 
of  the  King's  Bench,  and,  in  1468,  Lord  Chief  Justice  of  the 
King's  Bench.  In  the  spring  of  the  year  1481,  he  was  struck 
with  apoplexy,  and  expired  in  a  few  days,  after  a  tenure  of 
office  for  seventeen  years,  in  the  midst  of  civil  wars  and  revolu- 
tions. He  was  buried  in  Battlesden  Abbey,  in  Oxfordshire, 
where  a  large  blue  marble  slab  was  placed  over  his  body  having 
on  it  the  figures  in  brass  of  himself  and  his  lady.  He  is  rep- 
resented in  his  official  robes,  and  she  in  a  plain  dress  with 
short  waist  and  cuffs.  On  a  brass  plate  beneath  is  this  inscrip- 
tion: 

"Orate  pro  AV  abs  Thome  Bylling  militis  quodm  capital. 
Justic,  do1"  Regis  ad  plita  coram  ipso  Rege  ten.  et  Katerine 
u"8  ej'  quodm.  Thomas  obiit  V°  die  mes  Maii  Ann.  M° 
CCCCLXXX  pri5  et  dicta  Katerina  obiit  VHP  die  Martii  A° 
Dni  M°CCCCLXXIX°  quor  a's'  ab'  ppciet'  Deus.  Amen." 
Under  the  inscription  are  the  figures  of  five  sons  and  four 
daughters,  and  on  several  labels,  "Jhu  mercy,  and  Lady  Helpe" ; 
and  at  the  four  corners,  the  Arms  of  Billing  impaling  those  of 
Gifford.  This  and  the  slab  that  covered  his  son  Thomas  were 
taken  from  the  Abbey  after  the  dissolution  of  monasteries  and 
placed  at  the  upper  end  of  the  centre  aisle  of  Wappenham 
Church,  where  they  now  remain. 

The  second  wife  of  Sir  Thomas  Billing  was  Mary,  daughter 
and  heir  of  Robert  Wesenham  of  Covington  in  Huntingdon- 
shire, esquire,  and  widow  of  Thomas  Lacy  and  William 
Cotton.  She  died  on  the  fourteenth  of  March  1499,  and  was 
buried  in  the  south  aisle  of  St.  Margaret's  Church  at  West- 


Genealogy  399 

minster,  a  great  portion  of  which  church  was  rebuilt  by  her- 
self and  her  husband  Sir  Thomas  Billing.  A  sumptuous 
monument  was  there  erected  to  her  memory.  It  was  an 
altar-tomb  with  her  figure  inlaid  in  brass,  in  a  mantle,  gown, 
veil,  and  wimple;  out  of  her  mouth  a  tablet  label,  "Blessed 
Lady,  etc."  and  on  two  scrolls  on  each  side  of  her, 
"Blessed  Trinity  on  me  have  mercy."  Over  her  head  the 
lily-pot  between  the  Virgin  and  Gabriel  with  their  usual 
labels:  "  Ave  Maria  Gracia  plena  "  and  "  Ecce  Ancilla  dom. 
fiat  michi  secundu  verbu  tuQ,"  and  above  the  Deity.  At 
the  four  corners  of  the  slab  were  the  arms  of  her  family 
with  their  several  quarterings.  Round  the  ledge  of  the 
monument,  "Here  lieth  Dame  Mary  Bylling,  late  wife  of  Sir 
Thomas  Bylling,  Knight  Chief  Justice  of  England,  and  to 
William  Cotton  and  Thomas  Lacy:  which  Mary  died  the  14 
day  of  March,  in  the  year  of  our  Lord  God  1499."  In  quatre- 
foils  at  the  ends  of  the  tomb  were  her  family  arms  (Wesenham), 
and  at  the  sides  the  arms  of  Lacy,  Cotton  and  Billing,  all 
impaling  those  of  Wesenham.  This  monument  has  been  long 
since  gone,  supposed  to  have  been  destroyed  in  1758,  when  the 
church  underwent  a  thorough  repair. 

Sir  Thomas  by  his  first  wife  Catherine,  daughter  of  Roger 
Gifford  of  Twyford,  in  Buckinghamshire,  Esquire,  became 
possessed  of  Gifford  Manor,  in  the  hamlet  of  Astwell,  and 
parish  of  Wappenham,  in  Northamptonshire,  afterwards 
called  Billings  Manor,  where  he  took  up  his  residence.  The 
ancient  manor  house,  although  much  curtailed  in  size,  is  still 
standing,  and  now  occupied  as  a  farm  house.  The  children  of 
Sir  Thomas  Billing,  all  by  his  first  wife  were:  Thomas  his  heir 
(see  infra} ;  John,  who  settled  in  Buckinghamshire  (see  page 
400) ;  Roger  of  whom  nothing  is  known ;  William  who  prob- 
ably settled  in  Wedon  Back;  Nicholas  (of  whom  see  page  401) ; 
Katherine,  Isabel,  and  Margaret. 

Thomas  Billing,  son  and  heir  of  Sir  Thomas  Billing  (see  supra) 
succeeded  to  the  estates  in  Astwell.  He  died  on  the  23rd  of 
March,  1498-9,  and  was  buried  near  his  father  and  mother,  in 
Battlesden  Abbey,  from  whence  after  the  dissolution  of  monas- 
teries, the  slab  covering  his  remains  was  removed  together  with 


400  JoKn  SHaw  Billings 

that  over  his  father  and  mother  and  placed  in  Wappenham 
church.  On  the  slab,  which  is  of  blue  marble,  is  a  brass  figure 
representing  him  in  Armour  with  a  Vizor  up  and  a  label  issuing 
from  his  mouth:  "Jhu  mcy,  Jhu  mcy. "  At  each  corner  is  a 
shield  with  the  arms  of  Billing  impaling  those  of  Brocas,  and 
at  the  bottom  a  brass  with  this  inscription:  "Hie  jacet  Tho. 
Billinge  Arm.  Filius  et  heres  Thome  Billing  Capitalis  Jus- 
ticiarii  de  Banco  domini  Regis  qui  obiit  xxiii  die  Martii  A° 

Dom.     M cujus  anime  propicietur  Deus.    Amen."     His 

wife  was  Margaret,  daughter  of  Bernard  Brocas,  of  Beaure- 
paire,  in  Hampshire,  Esquire,  by  whom  he  had  four  daughters, 
co-heiresses. 

1 .  Joan,  whose  first  husband  was  Stephen  Haugh,  a  Justice 
of  the  Common  Pleas,  by  whom  she  had  a  son  Stephen.    She 
married  secondly  Thomas  Lovett  of  Astwell,  Esquire,  being 
his  third  wife,  and  died  in  1517,  without  issue  by  her  second 
husband,  who  died  February  7,  1491-2,  and  was  buried  in 
Battlesden  Abbey  under  a  blue  marble  slab,  having  on  it  the 
portraiture  in  brass  of  a  man  in  armour  and  this  inscription. 
[Hiatus.] 

Billings  Manor  was  enjoyed  by  this  Thomas  Lovett  in  right 
of  his  wife.  It  remained  in  the  family  of  Lovett  until  the  time 
of  Queen  Elizabeth,  in  the  twenty-first  year  of  whose  reign 
(1578),  by  the  decease  of  Thomas  Lovett,  Esquire  without 
issue  male,  it  fell  to  George  Shirley  Esquire  the  son  and  heir 
of  John  Shirley,  Esquire  by  Jane  his  wife  the  sole  daughter 
and  heiress  of  the  said  Thomas  Lovett,  from  whom  lineally 
descends  Washington,  Earl  Ferrars. 

2.  Sibilla,  wife  of  Ingleton. 

3.  Rose,  married  to  Richard  Tresham  of  Newton  in  North- 
amptonshire. 

4.  Katherine,  wife  of Lynde. 

By  the  marriage  of  these  daughters  the  large  estates  of  the 
Billings  passed  into  other  families. 

John  Billing,  the  second  son  of  Sir  Thomas  (see  page  399)  was 
a  merchant  of  the  staple,  and  resided  at  Aylesbury  in  Bucking- 
hamshire, where  he  died  in  1510;  having  made  his  will  "on 
the  evening  of  Seynt  Bartilmen  thappostle"  in  the  same  year. 


Genealogy  401 

He  bequeaths  his  soul  to  God,  our  blessed  Lady  St.  Mary  the 
Virgin,  and  to  all  the  Saints  of  Heaven,  and  desires  to  be  buried 
in  the  church  Aylesbury,  to  which  church,  and  the  church  of 
Dodington,  in  Oxfordshire,  he  makes  bequests.  To  his  wife 
Agnes,  he  gives  all  his  household  furniture,  half  his  plate,  and 
one  hundred  pounds  in  money.  He  also  makes  bequests  to 
the  two  daughters  of  his  son  William,  which  son  he  appoints 
executor  and  makes  residuary  legatee. 

This  William  was  also  merchant  of  the  Staple,  and  resided 
at  Dodington,  in  Oxfordshire,  where  he  died  in  1534.  By  his 
will,  dated  in  the  same  year,  he  desires  to  be  buried  in  the 
church  of  Dodington,  in  the  Trinity  Guild,  near  his  wife 
Elizabeth.  He  makes  bequests  to  his  daughters,  Mary  wife  of 
Ralph  London,  and  Jane,  wife  of  Anthony  Skinner,  to  Eleanor, 
wife  of  his  son  John,  and  directs  that  the  said  John  shall  be 
sent  to  the  University  of  Oxford,  giving  a  large  sum  to  the  New 
College  there  in  his  behalf.  He  appoints  his  wife  Tybalde  and 
son  John  co-executors  of  the  will  and  his  brother  Charles  and 
Doctor  London  overseers. 

John  Billing,  the  son  and  heir,  had  an  only  daughter  who 
was  married  to  Richard  Wheatell,  of  Shepley  of  Lincolnshire, 
to  whom  she  conveys  the  estates. 

Nicholas  Bitting,  the  fifth  and  youngest  son  of  Sir  Thomas 
Billing  (see  page  399)  was  of  Middleton  Malzor,  in  Northamp- 
tonshire. He  died  in  1512,  having  made  his  will  on  the  twenty- 
third  day  of  October  in  the  same  year.  After  bequeathing  his 
soul  to  God,  Our  Lady  Saint  Mary,  and  all  the  Holy  Company 
of  Heaven,  he  directs  that  his  body  shall  be  buried  in  the 
church  of  Middleton  Malzor  by  the  side  of  his  wife  Agnes. 
After  making  bequests  to  various  religious  objects  in  the 
church,  he  provides  for  masses  of  requiem  to  be  performed  at 
Battlesden  Abbey  for  five  years,  on  each  anniversary  of  his 
death.  His  wife  was  Agnes,  daughter  of  Stephen  Gilbert  of 
Middleton  Malzor,  by  whom  he  had  besides  two  daughters, 
Katherine  and  Agnes,  four  sons. 

i.  Roger.  2.  William  of  Middleton  Malzor,  died  in  the 
year  1526  without  issue,  leaving  the  principal  part  of  his 
estate  to  his  nephew  William,  son  of  his  brother  John. 
26 


402  John  SHaw   Billings 

3.     Henry  probably  of  Wappenham.     4.     John  of  Middleton 
Malzor. 

John  Billing  of  Middleton  Malzor,  fourth  and  youngest  son 
of  Nicholas  (see  page  401)  died  in  1526.  In  his  will,  after  mak- 
ing the  usual  bequests  for  religious  purposes,  repairing  the 
roads,  etc.,  he  provides  for  his  children,  appoints  his  son  Wil- 
liam executor  and  makes  him  residuary  legatee.  His  children 
were  William  (see  infra) ;  Nicholas  of  Middleton  Malzor; 
Thomas  who  removed  to  Weekly  in  Northamptonshire; 
Agnes,  wife  of  Bodyenge. 

William  Billing  of  Middleton  Malzor,  the  eldest  son  of  John 
Billing,  of  Middleton  Malzor,  was  also  of  that  place,  where  he 
died  in  1557.  His  will  was  dated  on  the  thirteenth  day  of 
September,  1557,  and  proved  on  the  fourth  of  November  in 
the  same  year.  He  bequeaths  his  soul  to  God,  Our  Lady  St. 
Mary,  and  to  all  the  Saints  in  Heaven,  and  desires  to  be  buried 
in  the  church  of  Middleton  Malzor  near  his  father  and  mother. 
By  his  wife  Joan,  who  survived  him,  he  had  besides  his  daugh- 
ter Katherine,  three  sons:  William  who  died  before  his  father 
leaving  a  widow  Elizabeth;  Roger  of  Somersetshire  (see  infra} ; 
Richard,  also  of  Somersetshire,  where  he  married  in  Taun- 
ton,  January  20,  1561-2  Katherine  Wilcox,  by  whom  he  had 
three  sons,  Richard,  Nicholas,  and  John.  He  resided  at  East 
Lydford. 

Roger  Billing,  second  son  of  William  Billing  (see  supra) 
having,  with  his  brother  Richard,  inherited  lands  in  Somerset- 
shire from  his  father,  removed  to  that  county  and  settled  at 
Baltonsborough,  near  Glastonbury,  where  he  was  buried 
December  16,  1596.  From  a  parchment  document  containing 
the  names  of  the  principal  landholders  in  the  parish,  preserved 
in  the  great  chest  in  the  church,  it  appears  that  he  was  pos- 
sessed of  considerable  real  estate  there,  which  by  his  will  dated 
December  14,  1596,  and  proved  on  the  twentieth  of  April 
of  the  following  year,  he  bequeathed  to  his  two  sons  Richard 
the  elder  and  Richard  the  younger,  to  be  equally  divided  by  his 
brother,  Richard  Billing  of  East  Lydford,  and  other  persons 
whom  he  names.  By  his  first  wife  Katherine,  who  was 
buried  at  Baltonsborough,  February  12,  1566/7,  he  had: 


Genealogy  403 

Richard,  called  in  his  father's  will  Richard  the  elder  (see 
infra);  Elizabeth  baptized  January  8,  1561/2  buried  October 
!»  J587;  John,  baptized  January  8,  1564,  buried  May  31,  1573. 
His  second  wife  was  Edith  Colburn,  whom  he  married  at 
Baltonsborough,  December  5,  1573.  She  was  buried  there 
July  4,  1605.  Their  children  were  Agnes,  baptized  November 
7,  1574;  Christopher  baptized  December  25,  1575,  buried 
March  n,  1589/90;  Agatha,  baptized  October  18,  1578;  Mary, 
baptized  December  18,  1581;  Richard,  called  Richard  the 
younger,  baptized  November  8,  1584.  Richard  the  younger 
resided  sometime  at  Baltonsborough,  where  he  married  May 
22,  1617,  Susan  Rushe,  by  whom  he  had  a  daughter  Edith  who 
was  baptized  April  14,  1619.  It  appears  from  the  register  that 
he  was  church  warden  in  1628,  but  what  became  of  him  after- 
wards is  not  ascertained. 

Richard  Billing,  the  eldest  son  of  Roger  Billing  of  Baltons- 
borough (see  page  402),  and  called  Richard  the  elder,  removed 
to  Taunton,  where  he  married  Elizabeth  daughter  of  Ebenezer 
Strong  of  that  place,  and  was  possessed  of  landed  property, 
which  by  his  will,  dated  in  1604,  he  gave  to  his  children.  He 
also  made  bequests  to  the  reparation  of  the  Church  of  St. 
James,  in  Taunton,  to  the  poor  of  that  parish  and  of  Baltons- 
borough, and  left  twenty  shillings  to  his  brother  Richard  to 
make  him  a  ring  in  remembrance  of  him.  He  appointed  his 
wife  executrix  of  the  will  and  made  her  residuary  legatee  of  all 
his  personal  estate.  Their  children  were  besides  Elizabeth  who 
was  married  to  Thomas  Savage,  Richard,  Roger,  Ebenezer, 
William  (see  infra). 

William  Billing,  the  youngest  son  of  Richard  Billing  the 
elder  (see  supra),  had  by  his  father's  will,  a  house  and  land 
in  Taunton,  called  Deanes,  which  passed  to  his  son,  William, 
who,  emigrating  to  New  England,  sold  it  to  his  brother,  Ebene- 
zer of  Glastonbury  in  Somersetshire.  By  his  will  dated  in 
1659,  he  having  a  wife  but  no  children  bequeathed  this  prop- 
erty to  his  nephew,  Ebenezer  Billings,  son  of  his  brother  Joseph 
Billing,  deceased,  describing  it  as  formerly  belonging  to  his 
brother  William  Billing,  then  in  New  England. 

William  Billing,  son  of  William   Billing    (see   supra),  of 


404  JoKn  SHaw  Billings 

Taunton,  disposed  of  his  lands  there,  and  came  to  New  Eng- 
land about  the  middle  of  the  seventeenth  century.  He  is  said 
to  have  been  one  of  the  original  proprietors  of  Lancaster  in 
Massachusetts,  in  1654,  but  in  1658,  the  fifth  of  February, 
we  find  him  at  Dorchester  on  which  day  he  married  Mary 

.     The  record  of  the  marriage  not  giving  her  surname, 

stands  thus:  "William  Billing  was  married  unto  Mary  — • —  by 
Mayor  Atharton  5:2;  57."  In  the  same  year,  he  joined  the 
company  of  William  Cheeseborough  at  Stonington,  Connecti- 
cut, where  he  became  one  of  the  largest  landed  proprietors  in 
that  and  neighbouring  towns.  He  died  on  the  sixteenth  of 
March,  1713,  and  his  widow  in  1718.  His  will,  dated  October 
13,  1712,  was  proved  on  the  fourteenth  of  April  following.  It 
is  a  curious  specimen  of  orthography,  in  which  the  name  is 
spelt  Billinges,  not  written  by  the  testator,  but  signed  by  him 
without  the  final  s.  He  bequeaths  to  his  wife  all  his  house- 
hold furniture  forever,  and  one  third  part  of  his  real  estate 
during  her  life.  TO  his  son  William  he  gives  his  real  estate  in 
Preston  and  other  places.  To  all  his  children  and  grand- 
children he  makes  bequests  and  appoints  his  son  Ebenezer 
executor  and  makes  him  residuary  legatee.  His  children  the 
first  five  of  whom  were  baptized  at  Stonington  on  the  same 
day,  viz.:  September  I,  1672,  were:  (i)  William  of  Preston; 
(2)  Ebenezer  of  Stonington  (see  infra) ;  (3)  Joseph  who  died 
young;  (4)  Mary  died  young;  (5)  Lydia;  (6)  Mercy  born 
October  27,  1674;  (7)  Mary  baptized  March  14,  1675/6;  (8) 
Abigail,  baptized  July  I,  1677;  (9)  Dorothy,  baptized  Sep- 
tember 28,  1679;  (10)  Patience  baptized  April  9,  1682;  (n) 
Prudence,  March  4,  1683. 

Ebenezer  Bitting,  the  second  son  of  William  Billing  of  Ston- 
ington (see  page  403)  was  also  of  that  place.  His  father  ap- 
pointed him  executor  of  his  will.  His  own,  dated  February 
20,  1726/7,  was  proved  at  New  London,  October  5,  1727.  He 

married  at  Stonington,  March  I,  1680,  Anne  daughter  of 

Comstock.  "Mr.  Billings  served  in  the  Colonial  wars"  (see 
Billings  Family  History  of  Stonington,  Conn.,  1900).  Their 

children  were:  (i)  Anne,  born  October  7,  1681,  married  to 

Hakes;   (2)  Ebenezer,   born  January   I,    1684;   (3)  William, 


Genealogy  405 

born  April  4,  1686;  (4)  James,  born  October  4,  1688  (see 
infra);  (5)  Zipporah,  born  May  n,  1691,  married  to  Thomas 
Strickland  of  New  London;  (6)  Margaret,  born  April  n,  1693, 
married  February  8,  1717  to  Jeremiah  Burch;  (7)  Jemima, 
baptized  April  15,  1695,  married  to  Baldwin;  (8)  Increase, 
born  May  13,  1697;  (9)  Thankful,  born  February  7,  1698/9, 

married  to Smith.  (She  had  a  daughter  Mary  Powell, 

mentioned  in  the  will  of  her  grandfather  Ebenezer  Billings, 
1727);  (10)  Benjamin,  born  September  28,  1703. 

James  Billings,  the  fourth  child  of  Ebenezer  Billing  of 
Stonington  (see  page  404)  was  himself  of  that  place;  born 
October  4,  1688,  died  therein  1761  aged  73  years;  having  made 
his  will  on  the  23  of  July  in  that  year.  He  married,  March  17, 
1714/15,  Mary  daughter  of  Benjamin  Hewitt;  her  will  is  dated 
January  29,  1763.  Children:  (i)  Zipporah,  born  October  2, 
1715;  (2)  James,  born  September  20,  1719;  (3)  Eunice,  born 
August  17,  1720,  married  Timothy  Babcock;  (4)  Lois,  born 
January  6,  1723/34;  (5)  Amos,  born  May  9,  1728,  married 
January  10,  1749/50,  Bertha  —  Minor  and  had  a  daughter 
Mary,  born  August  27,  17 — ;  (6)  David,  born  September  6, 
I73°;  (?)  Jesse,  born  April  18,  1737. 

Jesse  Billings  I.  The  fourth  son  of  James  Billings  of 
Stonington  (see  supra)  was  himself  of  that  place,  born  April 
*8,  1737-  Said  to  have  served  in  the  Revolutionary  War  with 
the  rank  of  captain.  He  married  Grace  Breed,  cousin  of 
Ebenezer  Breed,  of  Breed's  Hill  (Bunker  Hill)  daughter  of 
John  Breed  and  Mary  Prentice;  she  was  born  June  2,  1740. 
They  removed  after  the  Revolutionary  War  to  Old  Saratoga, 
Saratoga  County,  New  York,  where  they  died.  Their  children 
were  Elihu  m.  Tiddie  Wright;  Henry  m.  Lucy  Wright;  John; 
Grace  m.  Daniel  Morgan;  Esther  m.  Roswell  Holmes;  Jesse  II 
m.  Phoebe  Smith. 

Jesse  Billings  II.  He  was  of  Saratoga,  New  York.  Married 
Phoebe  Smith,  daughter  of  Thomas  Smith.  Their  children  were 
Jesse  III.  m.  Mary  Thompson ;  John ;  William  J.  m.  Maria  Groes- 
beck;  Sally  m.  Elijah  Dunham;  Betsy  m.  Edward  Perry;  Almira 
m.  Elias  Cole;  Phoebe  m.  William  Thorn;  Emma  m.  Otis  Bates; 
Mary  m.  Stephen  Thorne;  James  Billings  m.  Abby  Shaw. 


406  JoKn  SKa-w  Billings 

James  Billings,  son  of  Jesse  Billings  II.  (see  page  405)  was  born 
at  Saratoga,  New  York,  March  15,  1806;  married  July  21, 1835, 
Abby  Shaw  of  Raynham,  Mass.  She  was  a  lineal  descendant  of 
John  Rowland,  the  Pilgrim.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Billings  removed  to 
Indiana  and  later  to  Dayton,  Ohio.  He  died  there  March  8, 
1892.  Mrs.  Billings  died  in  1898.  Both  are  buried  in  the 
cemetery  at  that  place,  called  Woodland.  "  Billings. — James 
Billings  died  March  8, 1 892 ,  aged  86  years.  Will  be  buried  from 
his  late  residence,  117  Euclid  Avenue,  March  9th,  at  10  A.M.  In- 
terment Woodland."  Their  children  were  Martha  and  Emma, 
born  July  14,  1836,  died  July  18,  1836;  John  Shaw  Billings,  born 
April  12, 1838;  Emma  Billings,  born  March  28, 1840,  m.  Jordan; 
Abby  S.  Billings,  born  March  I,  1843,  died  December  29,  1843. 

John  Shaw  Billings,  born  in  Indiana,  April  12,  1838,  com- 
missioned U.  S.  A.  1862.  Served  until  1895,  when  he  asked  to 
be  retired,  to  take  up  university  and  medical  work  at  Phila- 
delphia in  connection  with  the  University  of  Pennsylvania  in 
1896.  Was  called  to  New  York  City  as  Director  of  The  New 
York  Public  Library,  Astor,  Lenox,  and  Tilden  Foundations. 
He  was  a  surgeon  in  the  U.  S.  Army,  retiring  with  the  rank 
of  Lieutenant-Colonel.  He  married  September  3,  1862  at 
Georgetown,  D.  C.,  Katharine  Mary  Stevens.  Their  children 
were  Mary  Clare,  born  November  9,  1863;  Kate  Sherman, 
Jessie  Ingram,  twins,  born  October  23,  1866;  John  Sedgwick, 
born  July  31 , 1869,  Margaret  Janeway,  born  November  4, 1872. 

John  Sedgwick  Billings,  the  son  of  John  Shaw  Billings  (see 
supra)  was  born  in  Georgetown,  D.  C.,  July  31,  1869.  Mar- 
riages, Mary  Clare  m.  Dr.  Wm.  Wallis  Ord,  Georgetown,  D.  C., 
October  5,  1892 ;  Kate  Sherman  m.  Wm.  Wilson,  November  26, 
1891,  Georgetown,  D.  C. ;  Jessie  Ingram  m.  Bradfield  Hartley, 
September  3,  1890,  Georgetown,  D.  C. ;  John  Sedgwick  m. 
April  20, 1897,  Katharine  Hammond,  daughter  of  Major  Harry 
and  Emily  Gumming  Hammond  of  Redcliffe  Beech  Island, 
S.  C.  Children  of  John  Sedgwick  Billings:  John  Shaw 
Billings  2nd,  born  at  Redcliffe,  South  Carolina,  May  II,  1898. 
James  Henry  Hammond  Billings,  born  at  Lawrence  Park, 
Manhattan,  July  13,  1901.  Julian  Gumming  Billings,  born 
in  New  York  City,  February  21,  1904. 


Genealogy  407 

(TOMBSTONE  INSCRIPTION) 

In  Memory  of  Captain  Jesse  Billings  ist,  who  died  February 
12,  1820,  in  the  83rd  year  of  his  age.  "God  my  Redeemer  lives 
and  often  from  the  skies  looks  down  and  watches  all  my  dust 
till  he  shall  bid  it  rise. "  Grace,  wife  of  Captain  Jesse  Billings 
who  died  October 21,  1818,  in  the  77th  year  of  her  age.  "She 
was  useful  in  life,  calm  in  death,  at  Jesus'  will  resigned  her 
breath. "  (See  page  405.) 

Jesse  Billings  II.  (see  page  405).  Died  October  6,  1844, 
aged  74.  Write  "Blessed  are  the  dead  who  die  in  the  Lord. " 
"  Phcebe  Billings,  wife  of  Jesse  Billings  died  October  I,  1843, 
in  her  72 d  year." 

DEMISE  OF  MR.  JAMES  BILLINGS 
(Newspaper  Notice.) 

The  venerable  James  Billings  died  this  morning,  after 
several  months'  illness,  on  his  birthday,  aged  eighty-six  years. 

Father  Billings  was  born  in  Saratoga,  N.  Y.,  March  15,  1806. 
He  came  West  in  1830,  and  in  1835  he  was  married  to  Miss 
Abby  Shaw,  in  Cincinnati,  where  he  resided  several  years.  He 
afterwards  removed  to  Oxford,  Butler  County,  where  he  was  in 
business  for  a  long  time.  Mr.  Billings  came  here  during  the 
war  of  the  rebellion,  and  was  for  several  years  a  government 
storekeeper  at  the  various  distilleries  in  the  Third  Ohio  United 
States  Revenue  District.  He  also  occupied  other  positions  of 
honour  and  trust,  and  in  each  position  he  proved  to  be  a  faith- 
ful and  efficient  officer.  Mr.  Billings  was  a  notably  intelligent 
citizen,  a  great  reader,  and  was  so  well  posted  on  current 
events  as  to  be  able  to  render  a  valuable  opinion  on  any  topic 
under  discussion. 

He  was  for  most  of  his  life  an  accepted  and  faithful  member 
of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  and  was  at  the  time  of  his  decease 
a  member  of  the  Fourth  Presbyterian  Church  here.  His  wife 
and  two  children  survive  him — Dr.  John  S.  Billings,  a  dis- 
tinguished Army  Surgeon,  of  Washington,  D.  C.,  and  Mrs. 
Emma  T.  Jordan,  of  this  city  [Dayton,  Ohio]. 


2125464 


WAR  DEPARTMENT,  THE  ADJUTANT-GENERAL'S  OFFICE, 

WASHINGTON,  Feb.  13,  1914. 

From:  The  Adjutant-General  of  the  Army. 
Subject:  Record  of  service  of  John  S.  Billings,  late  Colonel 
United  States  Army. 

1.  The  records  show  as  follows:  John  Shaw  Billings,  born 
April  12,  1838,  was  appointed  First  Lieutenant  and  Assistant 
Surgeon,  April  16,  1862;  accepted  the  appointment,  July  16, 
1862;  was  appointed  Captain  and  Assistant  Surgeon,  July  28, 
1866;  Major  and  Surgeon,  December  2,  1876;  Lieutenant- 
Colonel  and  Deputy  Surgeon-General,  June  6,  1894;  retired 
October  i,  1895,  at  his  own  request,  and  died  March  n,  1913, 
in  New  York  City;  brevetted  Captain,  Major,  and  Lieutenant- 
Colonel,  United  States  Army,  March  13,  1865,  for  faithful  and 
meritorious  service  during  the  war. 

2.  Service:  In  charge  of  the  Cliffburne  General  Hospital, 
D.C.,  April  to  August,  1862;  ordered  to  Philadelphia,  Penn- 
sylvania, for  duty  in  West  Philadelphia  Hospital  per  S.  O.  194, 
A.  G.  O.,  August  1 8,  1862,  and  was  on  duty  as  executive  officer 
in  the  Satterlee  General  Hospital,  Philadelphia,  Pennsylvania, 
to  March  20,  1863.     He  was  ordered  to  report  to  Medical 
Director,  Army  of  the  Potomac,  for  assignment  to  duty,  and 
served  with  the  nth  United  States  Infantry  in  2d  Division, 
5th  Corps,  and  was  also  in  charge  of  the  operations  of  the 
Division  Field  Hospital.    On  May  15,  1863  (no  order  found), 

408 


Military  Record  409 

he  was  assigned  to  duty  with  the  7th  and  loth  Infantry,  and 
served  with  them  until  after  the  battle  of  Gettysburg,  Pennsyl- 
vania, when  he  was  left  behind  with  the  wounded  in  charge  of 
the  Division  Hospital,  and  was  shortly  afterward  taken  sick 
and  sent  to  Washington.  He  rejoined  his  command  in  August, 
1863,  and  went  with  it  to  New  York  City,  and  served  there  to 
October  13,  1863,  when  sent  to  General  Hospital,  Fort  Schuy- 
ler,  New  York,  for  duty.  On  November  I,  1863,  he  was  placed 
in  charge  of  De  Camp  General  Hospital,  New  York,  and  on 
November  20,  1863,  he  was  placed  in  charge  of  General  Hospi- 
tal at  Fort  Wood,  New  York.  On  February  i,  1864,  he  was 
sent  to  the  West  Indies  with  a  special  expedition  under  the 
direction  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Interior.  ByS.O.  131, A. G. 
O.,  March  29,  1864,  he  was  ordered  to  duty  in  the  Army  of  the 
Potomac,  and  was  on  duty  at  headquarters  Army  of  the 
Potomac,  as  Acting  Medical  Inspector  of  the  Army  to  July 
26, 1864,  when  taken  sick,  and  granted  twenty  days'  sick  leave 
in  S.  O.  199,  Army  of  the  Potomac,  July  26,  1864.  He  was 
granted  permission  to  remain  in  Washington,  D.  C.,  for  medi- 
cal treatment  per  S.  O.  268,  A.  G.  O.,  August  12,  1864.  By 
S.  O.  277,  A.  G.  O.,  August  22,  1864,  he  was  relieved  from  duty 
in  the  field,  and  ordered  to  report  to  the  Medical  Director, 
Army  of  the  Potomac,  for  duty  in  his  office  in  this  city,  and 
was  on  that  duty  to  December  27,  1864,  when  he  reported  for 
duty  in  the  Surgeon-General's  Office,  per  S.  O.  476,  A.  G.  O., 
December  31,  1864,  and  was  on  duty  there  to  August  20,  1895. 
In  addition  to  his  duties  he  was  ordered  to  report  to  the  Secre- 
tary of  the  Treasury  for  special  duty  in  connection  with  the 
examination  of  the  Marine  Hospital  Service,  per  S.  O.  219, 
A.  G.  O.,  September  n,  1869,  and  was  on  this  duty,  September 
13,  1869  to  September,  1870.  He  was  also  detailed  as  member 
of  the  National  Board  of  Health  by  direction  of  the  President, 
March  28,  1879,  and  served  as  such  to  August  17,  1882.  He 
sailed  for  London,  England,  June  22,  1 88 1,  as  a  delegate  to  the 
International  Medical  Congress,  and  rejoined  at  Washington, 
D.  C.,  November  9,  i88i,per  S.  O.  no,  A.  G.  0.,  May  13, 1881. 
He  was  ordered  to  Hot  Springs,  Arkansas,  in  connection  with 
the  erection  of  Army  and  Navy  Hospital  there  by  letter  of 


410  JoKn  SHaw  Billing's 

A.  G.  O.,  August  1 6,  1882.  He  was  a  delegate  to  attend  the 
health  exhibition  and  meeting  of  the  International  Medical 
Congress  at  Copenhagen  and  Berlin,  and  sailed  from  New  York 
for  this  duty  July  I,  1884,  and  returned  to  United  States  in 
September,  1884,  this  by  S.  0. 44,  A.  G.  O.,  February  21,  1884. 
He  was  on  duty  April  24  to  May  3,  1885,  to  represent  the 
Medical  Department  of  the  United  States  Army  at  the  annual 
meeting  of  the  American  Medical  Association  at  New  Orleans, 
Louisiana,  per  S.  O.  91,  A.  G.  O.,  April  21,  1885;  absent  on 
duty  in  Berlin,  Germany,  as  delegate  to  the  International 
Medical  Congress,  June  3,  to  August  31,  1890,  per  S.  O.  115, 
A.  G.  O.,  May  17,  1890;  detailed  as  professor  of  military  hy- 
giene at  the  Army  Medical  School,  Washington,  D.  C.,  per 
G.  O.  78,  A.  G.  O.,  September  22,  1893.  He  was  absent  July 
20  to  October  I,  1894,  representing  the  Medical  Department 
at  the  meeting  of  the  International  Congress  at  Budapest, 
per  letter  A.  G.  O.,  July  16,  1894. 

3.  Special  orders  of  the  Adjutant-General's  Office  directing 
him  to  perform  certain  temporary  duties,  etc.,  may  be  con- 
sulted in  the  Surgeon-General's  Library.  The  numbers  of  the 
orders  are  as  follows:  S.  O.  25,  January  18,  1871;  S.  O.  113, 
March  24,  1871;  S.  O.  99,  May  15,  1873;  S.  O.  118,  May  28, 
1874;  S.  O.  145,  July  3,  1874;  S.  O.  260,  November  20,  1874; 
S.  O.  31,  February  23,  1875;  S.  O.  106,  May  31,  1875;  S.  O.  72, 
April  10,  1876;  S.  O.  103,  May  26,  1876;  S.  O.  182,  September 
2, 1876;  S.  0. 106,  May  18, 1877;  S.  O.  109,  May  21,  1878;  S.  O. 
221,  October  14,  1878;  S.  O.  242,  November  8,  1878;  S.  0.  97, 
April  23,  1879;  S.  O.  255,  November  n,  1879;  S.  O.  89,  April 
22,  1880;  S.  O.  107,  May  14,  1880;  S.  O.  251,  November  26, 
1880;  S.  O.  96,  April  27,  1881 ;  S.  O.  190,  August  17,  1882 ;  S.  O. 
105,  May  7,  1883;  S.  O.  157,  July  9,  1887;  S.  O.  no,  May  13, 
1889;  S.  O.  168,  July  23,  1889;  S.  O.  230,  October  3,  1889;  S.  O. 
35,  February  12,  1891;  S.  O.  144,  June  20,  1892;  S.  0.  54, 
March  u,  1893;  S.  O.  117,  May  24,  1893;  S.  O.  177,  August  4, 
1893,  and  S.  0. 198,  August  24, 1895. 

F.  J.  KOESTER, 
Adjutant  General. 


Ill 

BIBLIOGRAPHY  OF  THE  WRITINGS  OP  JOHN  SHAW  BILLINGS, 

1861-1913 

(Prepared  by  Miss  Adelaide  R.  Hasse,  Chief  of  Division  of  Public 
Documents,  New  York  Public  Library.) 

1.  "The  Surgical  Treatment  of  Epilepsy."     Cincinnati  Lancet  and  Ob- 
server, 1861,  iv.,  334-34I- 

2.  "Cliffburne  Hospital,  Washington,  D.  C. "     (Extract  from  a  report  of 
Asst.  Surgeon  J.  S.  Billings.     [1863.])     Medical  and  Surgical  History 
of  the  War  of  the  Rebellion,  part  3,  p.  910. 

3.  "Letter  to  Col.  Thomas  A.  McParlin,  Medical  Director  Army  of  the 
Potomac,  Transmitting  the  Statistics  of  Sick  and  Wounded  of  the 
Army  of  the  Potomac  for  1864."     Dated  Washington  City,  June  17, 
1865.     Rebellion  Records,  ser.  I,  v.  42,  pt.  I,  pp.  202-203. 

4.  "  Report  [to  Col.  McParlin]  on  the  Treatment  of  Diseases  and  Injuries 
in  the  Army  of  the  Potomac  during  [June]  1864."     [1865.]     Medical 
and  Surgical  History  of  the  War  of  the  Rebellion,  part  i,  app.,  pp.  199- 

202. 

5.  "  Report  of  the  Results  of  the  Examinations  of  Fluids  of  Diseased 
Cattle  with  Reference  to  Presence  of  Cryptogamic  Growths. "    By  Dr. 
J.  S.  BILLINGS  and  Dr.  EDWARD  CURTISS.     In:  United  States.    Com- 
missioner of  Agriculture.     Report  on  Diseases  of  Cattle  in  the   United 
States,  Washington,  1869,  pp.  156-170, 1  pi. 

6.  "A  Report  on  Barracks  and  Hospitals;  with  Descriptions  of  Military 
Posts."     Washington,  1870,   xxxiii,  494   pp.,    13  pi.     4°.      (United 
States.    War  Department.  Surgeon-General's  Office.    Circular  No.  4.) 

7.  "The   Study  of  Minute  Fungi."     Am.  Naturalist,  Salem,  1871,  v.t 

323-329- 

8.  "The  Genus  Hysterium  and  Some  of  its  Allies."    Am,  Naturalist, 
Salem,  1871,  v.,  626-631,  i  pi. 

9.  "On  Some  Minute  Fungi."     (Abstract  of  a  paper  read  February  5, 
1872.)     Bull.  Phil.  Soc.,  Wash.,  1871-4,  i.,  42-43. 

10.     "  On  the  Collection  of  a  Large  Library. "     (Abstract  of  a  memoir  pre- 
sented December  6,  1873.)     Bull.  Phil.  Soc.,  Wash.,  1871-4,  i.,  92. 

411 


412  John  SHaw  Billings 

11.  "Abstract  of  Special  Reports  by  Army  Medical  Officers  on  the  Effect 
of  Mountain  Climates  upon  Health."     (Read  at  Annual  Meeting, 
Philadelphia,    November  12,  1874.)     Am.  Pub.  Health   Assoc.  Rep., 
1874-5,  New  York,  1876,  ii.,  148-150. 

12.  "Notes  on  Hospital  Construction."     Am.  Pub.  Health  Assoc.  Rep., 
1874-5,  New  York,  1876,  ii.,  384-388. 

13.  "A  Bibliography  of  Cholera."     In:   The  Cholera   Epidemic  in  the 
United  States,  Washington,  Gov.  Prtg.  Off.,  1875,  pp.  707-1025. 

Same.     U.  S.  43  Cong.,  2d  Sess.,  House  Ex.  Doc.  95. 

14.  "Remarks  on  Medical  Topography."     (Read  at  the  Annual  Meeting 
in  Baltimore,  1875.)    Am.  Pub.  Health  Assoc.  Rep.,  1874-5,  New  York, 
1876,  ii.,  47-54. 

15.  "A  Report  on  the  Hygiene  of  the  United  States  Army;  with  Descrip- 
tions of  Military  Posts."     Washington,  Gov.  Prtg.  Off.,  1875.     lix, 
567  pp.  13  pi.,  i  map.    4°.    (United  States  War  Department.    Surgeon 
General's  Office.     Circular  No.  8.) 

16.  "Hospital  Construction  and  Organization."    In:  Hospital  Plans  .  .  . 
Johns  Hopkins  Hospital,  New  York,  1875,  pp.  3-46,  9  pi.     8°. 

17.  "Report  of  the  Committee  on  the  Plan  for  a  Systematic  Sanitary 
Survey  of  the  United  States. "     (Submitted  at  the  Annual  Meeting  in 
Baltimore,  Nov.  10,  1875.)     Am.  Pub.  Health    Assoc.  Rep.,  1874-5, 
New  York,  1876,  ii.,  41-54.    Also  Reprint  with  extensive  questionnaire. 

18.  "A  Century  of  American  Medicine,  1776-1876;  Literature  and  Insti- 
tutions."    In:  A    Century  of  American   Medicine,    1776-1876.     12°. 
Philadelphia,  H.  C.  Lea,  1876,  pp.  289-386.     Also:  Am.  Jour.  Med. 
Sc.,  Phila.,  1876,  n.  s.  Ixxii.,  439-480. 

19.  Johns  Hopkins  Hospital.     Reports  and  Papers  Relating  to  Construc- 
tion and  Organization,  No.  1-3,  5.     [Baltimore,  1876-78.]     8°. 

No.  i.     1876.     19  pp. 

No.  2.     1876.     17  pp.  14  pi. 

No.  3.     1877.     19  pp. 

No.  5.     Report  on  Heating  and  Ventilation.     1878.  93  pp. 

20.  "Medical   Libraries  in  the  United  States."     In:  Public  Libraries 
in  the  United  States.  .  .  .     Special  Report.     Department   of  Interior. 
Bureau  of  Education.     8°.     Washington,  1876,  pp.  171-182. 

21.  "The  Rights,  Duties,  and  Privileges  of  the  Community  in  Relation 
to  those  of  the  Individual  in  Regard  to  Public  Health. "     (Address  at 
the  Annual  Meeting  in  Boston,  October  5,  1876.)     Am.  Pub.  Health 
Assoc.  Rep.,  1875-6,  New  York,  1877,  iii.,  49-52. 

22.  "Bacteria  and  Spontaneous  Generation."     (Abstract  of  Communica- 
tion.    February  10,  1877).     Bull.  Phil.  Soc.  Wash.  (1874-8),  1880,  ii., 
109-110. 

23.  "On  the  Plans  for  the  Johns  Hopkins  Hospital  at  Baltimore. "     Med. 
Rec.,  New  York,  1877,  xii.,  129;  145. 

24.  [Twenty  Lectures  on  the  History  of  Medicine,  Medical  Education, 
and  Medical  Legislation,  delivered  at  the  Johns  Hopkins  University, 


BibliograpHy  413 

Baltimore  in  1877-8.]     MS.  [not  printed  with  exception  of  the  last  of 
the  series,  i.e.:] 

25.  Medical  Education.     (Extracts  from  Lectures  Delivered  before  the 
Johns  Hopkins  University,  Baltimore,  1877-8.)     Baltimore,  W.  K. 
Boyle  &  Son,  1878.     I  p.  1.,  42  p.    8°. 

26.  [' '  Suggestions  with  Regard  to  Incorporating  in  the  Approaching  United 
States  Census  Statistics  of  Diseases  as  well  as  of  Deaths."     (Trans- 
mitted to  the  Hon.  S.  S.  Cox,  M.C.,  Chairman  Committee  on  Census 
of   1880,  by  Surgeon-General,  United  States  Army.     Washington, 
Oct.  15,  1878.)]     2  1.     Washington,  1878.     8°.     Also  in:   Am.  Pub. 
Health  Assoc.  Rep.,  1877-8,  Boston,  1880,  iv.,  373-375. 

27.  "Introduction   on   Hygiene."     Including:   I.     Prefatory   Remarks. 
II.     Causes  of  Disease.     III.     Jurisprudence  of  Hygiene.     In:  A.  H. 
Buck's    Treatise  on  Hygiene   and   Public   Health,     8°.     New  York, 

1879,  i.,  11-70. 

28.  "Report  of  the  Committee  Charged  with  Making  a  Sanitary  Survey 
of  Memphis,  Tenn. "     Rep.  Nat.  Bd.  Health,  Wash.,  1879,  237-262: 

1880,  416-441. 

29.  "Address  in  State  Medicine  and  Public  Hygiene."     Tr.  Am.  Med. 
Assoc.,  Phila.,  1879,  xxx.,  275-291.     Also  Reprint. 

30.  "The  Medical  Journals  of  the  United  States.    Boston  Med.  and  Surg. 
Jour.,  1879,  c.,  i;  108. 

31.  The  Study  of  Sanitary  Science.     Plumber,  N.  Y.,  1878-9,  ii.,  125. 

32.  "The   National   Board   of  Health  and  National  Quarantine."     Tr. 
Am.  Med.  Assoc.,  Phila.,  1880,  xxxi.,  435-455.     Also  Reprint. 

33.  "Report  of  Committee  on  the  Nomenclature  of  Diseases  and  on  Vital 
Statistics;  J.  S.  Billings,  Chairman."     October  20,  1880.     Rep.  Nat. 
Bd.  Health,  1880,  Wash.,  1882,  ii.,  537-594. 

34.  "Report  on  Sanitary  Survey  of  Memphis,    Tenn."     Rep.  Nat.  Bd. 
Health,  1880,  Wash.,  1882,  ii.,  602-617. 

35.  "Remarks  on  Sanitary  Condition  of  Memphis."     Proc.  San.  Con- 
vent.    (Detroit) ,  Lansing,  1 880, 69-72. 

36.  "The  President's  Address  at  the  Eighth  Annual  Meeting  of  the 
American  Public  Health  Association,  New  Orleans,  December  7,  1880." 
Am.  Pub.  Health  Assoc.  Rep.,  1880,  Bost.,  1881,  vi.,  i-n. 

37.  "The  Report  of  the  Advisory  Council  on  National  Sanitary  Legisla- 
tion"; Dr.  J.  S.  Billings,  President  of  the  Association,  Chairman  ex-officio. 
[1880.]    Am.  Pub.  Health  Assoc.  Rep.,  1880,  Bost.,  1881,  vi.,  385-401. 

38.  "  The  Scientific  Work  Carried  on  under  the  Direction  of  the  National 
Board  of  Health."     (Abstract  of  remarks.     November  20,    1880.) 
Bull.  Phil.  Soc.,  Wash.,  1880-1,  iv.,  37-39. 

39.  "The  National  Board  of  Health."     Plumber,  New  York,  1879-80, 

iii-,  47,  273- 

40.  "  National  Health  Legislation  on  Trial. "     Am.  Jour.  Med.  Sc.,  Phila., 
1879,  n.  s.,  Ixxviii.,  471-479.     Also:  Sanitarian,  New  York,  1879-80, 
vii.,  501-510. 


414  JoHn  SHaw  Billing's 

41.  "The  Organization  and  Operation  of  the  National  Board  of  Health." 
Med.  Record,  New  York,  1880,  xvii.,  101-103. 

42.  "Who  Founded  the  National  Medical  Library?"     Med.  Record,  New 
York,  1880,  xvii.,  298. 

43.  "  Letters  to  a  Young  Architect  on  Ventilation  and  Heating. "  Plumber, 
New  York,  1879-80,  iii.,  132,  154,  171,  191,211,233,251,271,291,311, 
33*.  35!>  371.  392,  4*5.  432»  4^3!  Continued  in:  Sanit.  Engin.,  N.  Y., 
1880-81,  iv.,  8,  37,  68,  83,  no,  131,  155,  180,  203,  228,  253,  274,  305, 
329,  470,  496,  536,  554;  i88i-2,v.,  6,99,  266;  1882,  vi.,  369,492;  1882-3, 
vii.,  6,  122,  219,  339,  434,  602;  1883,  viii.,  523.     [Reprinted  as:  The 
Principles  of  Ventilation  and  Heating  (infra).     1884.] 

44.  "Yellow  Fever."     Internal.  Rev.,  N.  Y.,  1880,  viii.,  29-49.     Also 
Reprint. 

45.  "Our  Medical  Literature.  Address."    Tr.  Internal.  Med.  Cong.,  Lond., 

1881,  i.,  54-70.     ^4/50  Reprint.     Also:  Brit.  Med.  Jour.,  Lond.,  1881, 
ii.,  262-268.     Also:  Lancet,  Lond.,  1881,  ii.,  265-270.     Also:  Boston 
Med.  and  Surg.  Jour.,   1881,  cv.,  217-222.     Also  transl.     [French]: 
Rev.  Scient.,    Paris.,   1882,   xxix.,   586-596.      Also  transl.    [Dutch]: 
Geneesk.  Courant,  Tiel,  1881,  xxxv.,  Nos.  44-48.     Also  transl.  [  Rus- 
sian]: Vrach  Vaidom.,  St.  Petersb.,  1881,  vi.,  2534,  2559,  2573,  2594. 
Also  transl.   [Norwegian]:    Norsk  Mag.  f.  Lagevidensk.,  Christiania, 

1882,  xii.,  141-166. 

46.  "The  Experience  of  the  United  States  in  Recent  Years  with  Regard 
to  Asiatic  Cholera  and  Yellow  Fever."     Tr.  Internal.  Med.  Cong., 
London,  1881,  iv.,  416-428. 

47.  "Mortality  Statistics  of  the  Tenth  Census."     Tr.  Am.  Med.  Assoc., 
Phila.,  1881,  xxxii.,  297-303.     Also  [Abstr.]:  Bull.  Phil.  Soc.  Wash., 
1880-81,  iv.,  164-165. 

48.  "Patents  on  Ventilating  Apparatus. "    Sanit.  Engin.,  N.  Y.,  1880-81, 
iv.,  327. 

49.  "The  Registration  of  Vital  Statistics."     Rep.  Nat.  Bd.  Health,  1882, 
Wash.,  1883,  355-461.     Also  [Abstr.]:   Am.  Jour.  Med.  Sc.,  Phila., 

1883,  n.  s.,  Ixxxv.,  33-50. 

50.  "  The  Registration  of  Vital  Statistics  in  the  United  States. "    Nat.  Bd. 
Health  Bull.,  Wash.,  1881-2,  iii.,  295. 

51.  "On  the  Ventilation  of  the  House  of  Representatives. "     (Abstract  of 
remarks.     April  8,  1882.)     Bull.  Phil.  Soc.  Wash.  (1881-82),  1883,  v., 
99-100. 

52.  "The  Information  Necessary  to  Determine  the  Merits  of  the  Heating 
and  Ventilation  of  a  School  Building. "    Circ.  Bureau  Educat.,  Wash., 
1882,  No.  2,  11-19. 

53.  "Notes  on  Military  Medicine  in  Europe."      Jour.  Mil.  Serv.  Inst- 
il. S.,  Governor's  Island,  N.  Y.  H.,  1882,  iii.,  234-247. 

54.  "The  Vaccination  Question."     Nation,  N.  Y.,  1882,  xxxiv.,  201-202. 

55.  "House  Sanitation  in  Large  Cities. "    Sanit.  Engin.,  N.  Y.,  1881-2,  v., 
338. 


BibliograpHy  415 

56.  "Address  [Delivered  Marqh  15,   1882]   to  the  Graduating  Class  of 
Bellevue  Medical  College. "  'Med.  News,  Phila.,  1882,  xl.,  285-288. 

57.  "Medical  Bibliography."     Tr.  Med.  and  Chir.  Fac.  Maryland,  Bait., 
1883,  53-80.     Also  Reprint. 

58.  "The  Heating  and  Ventilation  of  a  School  Building."    Sanit.  Engin., 
N.Y.,  1882-3,  vii.,  317. 

59.  "Germs  and  Epidemics."     Sanit.  Engin.,  N.  Y.,  1882-3,  vii.,  341, 

387. 

60.  "Papers  on  Vital  Statistics."    Sanit.  Engin.,  N.  Y.,  1883,  viii.,  418, 
442,  488,  541,  588: 1883-4,  ix.,  15,  163:  1884-5,  xi.,  9,  80,  128,  249. 

61.  "The  World's  Industrial  and  Cotton  Centennial  Exposition,  New 
Orleans,  La.,    1884-5."     Medical  Department,  United  States  Army, 
Exhibit  Class  4,  No.  5-7.     New  Orleans,  1884.    8°. 

No.  5.  Description  of  selected  specimens  from  the  medical  and 
surgical  sections  of  the  Army  Medical  Museum,  at  Washington, 
D.  C.  20  pp. 

No.  6.  Description  of  the  microscopes  and  microscopical  prepara- 
tions from  the  Army  Medical  Museum,  Washington,  D.  C.  15  pp. 

No.  7.  Description  of  the  composite  photographs  of  crania,  and  of 
crania  from  the  Army  Medical  Museum,  Washington,  D.  C.  15  pp. 

62.  "The   Principles  of  Ventilation  and   Heating  and   their  Practical 
Application."     New  York.    The  Sanitary  Engineer,  1884.     x,  13-216 
pp.     8°. 

Same.     London,  Trubner  &  Co.,  1884,  226  pp.    8°. 

63.  "Composite   Photography  Applied  to  Craniology."      (Abstract  of 
communication.     March  29,  1884.)     Bull.  Phil.  Soc.  Wash.,  1884,  vii., 
25-26. 

64.  ["Report  of  Resolutions  in  Memory  of  Joseph  Janvier  Woodward 
with  Abstract  of  Remarks  on  Dr.  Woodward's  Work,  etc."]    Novem- 
ber 8,  1884.     Bull.  Phil.  Soc.  Wash.,  1884,  vii.,  75-76. 

65.  "The  Mortality  Rates  of  Baltimore;  Life  Table  for  Baltimore;  Mor- 
tality in  Different  Wards;  Causes  of  Disease. "    Maryland  Med.  Jour., 
Bait.,  1883-4,  x-»  487-489. 

66.  "  Methods  of  Tabulating  and  Publishing  Records  of  Deaths. "     1885. 
Am.  Pub.  Health  Assoc.  Rep.,  1885,  Concord  N.  H.,  1886,  xi.,  51-66. 

67.  "  On  Composite  Photography  as  Applied  to  Craniology. "     By  JOHN 
SHAW  BILLINGS,  and  "On  Measuring  the  Cubic  Capacity  of  Skulls," 
by  WASHINGTON  MATTHEWS.      (Read  April  22,    1885.)    Mem.  Nat. 
Acad.  Sc.,  Wash.,  1886,  iii.,  pt.  2,  105-116,  20  pi.      Also  [Abstr.]: 
Science,  Cambridge,  1885,  v.,  499. 

68.  "On  a  New  Craniophore  for  Use  in  Making  Composite  Photographs 
of  Skulls."    By  JOHN  SHAW  BILLINGS  and  WASHINGTON  MATTHEWS. 
(Read  November  12,  1885.)     Mem.  Nat.  Acad.  Sc.,  Wash.,  1886,  iii., 
pt.  2,  117-119,  4  pi. 

69.  "  Memoir  of  Joseph  Janvier  Woodward. "    Nat.  Acad.  Sc.,  Biog.  Mem., 
Wash.,  1886,  ii.,  295-307.     Also  Reprint. 


4l6  JoKn  SHaw  Billing's 

70.  "Report  on  the  Mortality  and  Vital  Statistics  of  the  United  States 
as  Returned  at  the  Tenth  Census"  (June   I,  1880).     Washington, 
Gov.  Prtg.  Off.,  1885-6.     3  vols.     2  v.  text,  i  v.  pis.     4°.     United 
States  Census  Office,  Rept.  loth  Census.,  v.  11-12. 

Same.     47  Cong.,  2  sess.    House  Misc.  Docs.  v.  13,  pt.  11-12. 

Text,  v.  i.     1885.     Ixiii,  767  pp. 
Text,  v.  2.     1886.     clviii,  803  pp. 
Plates.     17,19  plates,  3  8  diagrams. 

71.  "Sewage  Disposal  in  Cities."     Harper's  Mag.,  New  York,  1885,  Ixxi., 

577-584- 

72.  "Scientific  Men  and  their  Duties. "      (The  President's  address  before 
the  Philosophical  Society  of  Washington,  December  4,  1886.)     Bull. 
Phil.  Soc.,  Wash.,  1886-7,  ix.,  pp.  xxxv-lvi.     Also  Reprint. 

73.  "On  Museum  Specimens  Illustrating  Biology."     (Abstract  of  com- 
munication presented  at  288th  meeting  of  the  Philosophical  Society 
of  Washington,  May  22,  1886.)     Bull.  Phil.  Soc.  Wash.,  1886-7,  «•» 
35-36. 

74.  "Medicine  in  the  United  States,  and  its  Relations  to  Co-operative 
Investigation."    The  annual  address  in  medicine  delivered  before  the 
British   Medical  Association,  August  n,  1886.      Brit.   Med.   Jour., 
Lond.,  1886,  ii,  299-307.     Also:  Med.  News,  Phila.,  1886,  xlix,  169-180. 
Also  Reprint. 

75.  "Hot  Water  and  Steam  Heat  Compared."     Sanit.  Engin.,  N.  Y., 

1886,  xiv.,  595. 

76.  "Effect  of  Freezing  on  the  Typhoid  Germ."     Sanit.  Engin.,  N.  Y., 
1886-7,  xv-»  2I1- 

77.  "Methods  of  Research  in   Medical  Literature."     Tr.  Assoc.  Am. 
Physicians,  Phila.,  1887,  ii.,  57-67.    Also:  Boston  Med.  and  Surg.  Jour., 

1887,  cxvi.,  597-600.     Also  Reprint. 

78.  "Forms  of  Tables  of  Vital  Statistics,  with  Special  Reference  to  the 
Needs  of  the  Health  Department  of  a  City."     Amer.  Pub.  Health 
Assoc.  Rep.,  Concord,  N.  H.,  1888,  xiii.,  203-223.     Also  Reprint. 

79.  "Medical  Museums,  with  Special  Reference  to  the  Army  Medical 
Museum  at  Washington."     Med.  News,  Phila.,  1888,  liii.,  309-316. 
Also  Reprint. 

80.  "The  History  of  Medicine."     Introductory   Lecture  [to   a  course 
delivered  at  Lowell  Institute].     Boston  Med.  and  Surg.  Jour.,  1888, 
cxviii.,  29-57. 

81.  "The  Medical  College  of  Ohio  before  the  War."     Address  to  the 
Society  of  the  Alumni  of  the  Ohio  Medical  College,  delivered  at  the 
annual  commencement,  March  7,  1888.     Cincin.  Lancet-Clinic,  1888, 
n.  s.,  xx.,  297-305. 

82.  "On  Vital  and  Medical  Statistics."    The  Cartwright  lectures  deliv- 
ered before  the  Alumni  Association  of  the  College  of  Physicians  of  New 
York  in  November,  1889.     Med.  Rec.,  N.  Y.,  1889,  xxxvi.,  589,  617, 
645.     Also  Reprint. 


BibliogfrapHy  4J7 

83.  "The  Plans  and  Purpose?  of  the  Johns  Hopkins  Hospital."     Med. 
News,  Phila.,  1889,  liv.,  505-510.     Also  Reprint. 

84.  "  The  United  States  Census  in  its  Relations  to  Sanitation. "    Am.  Pub. 
Health  Assoc.  Rep.,  1889,  Concord,    1890,   xv.,   43-46.     [Discussion] 
243-246. 

85.  "Water  Supply  for  Small  Towns."     Engin.  and  Build.  Rec.,  N.  Y., 
1888-9,  xix.,  235. 

86.  "House  Drainage  from  Various  Points  of  View."    Pop.  Sc.  Monthly, 
N.  Y.,  1888-9,  xxxiv.,  310-324. 

87.  "Biographical  Memoir  of  Spencer  Fullerton  Baird. "     (Read  before 
the  National  Academy  of  Sciences,  April  17,  1889.)     Nat.  Acad.  Sc. 
Biog.  Mem.,  Wash.,  1895,  iii.,  141-160.     Also  Reprint. 

88.  "Description  of  Johns  Hopkins  Hospital."     Baltimore,  I.  Frieden- 
wald,  1890.     3  p.  1.,  3-116  pp.,  56  pi.     4°.     (Johns  Hopkins  Hospital 
Publications.) 

89.  "The  National  Medical  Dictionary  ":  Including  the  English,  French, 
German,  Italian,  and  Latin  Technical  Terms  Used  in  Medicine  and  the 
Collateral  Sciences,  and  a  Series  of  Useful  Data.     Edited  by  JOHN 
SHAW  BILLINGS.    With  the  collaboration  of  W.  O.   Atwater,  Frank 
Baker,  S.  M.  Burnett,  W.  T.  Councilman,  James  M.  Flint,  J.  H.  Kidder, 
William  Lee,  R.  Lorini,  Washington  Matthews,  C.  S.  Minot,  H.  C., 
Yarrow.     Philadelphia,  Lea  Bros.  &  Co.,  1890.    2  vol.   xlvi,  731  pp.;  i 
p.  1.,  799  pp.    Royal  8°. 

90.  "Vital  Statistics  of  the  Jews  in  the  United  States."     Washington. 
D.  C.  [1890].     I9p.,4diagr.     4°.     United  States  Census  Office,     nth 
Census.     Bulletin  No.  19. 

91.  "The  Relations  of  the  Physicians  of  the  United  States  to  the  Next 
Census."      Jour.   Am.  Med.  Assoc.,   Chicago,    1890,   xiv.,  641-643. 
[Internat.  ed.] 

92.  "Ideals  of  Medical  Education."     Boston  Med.  and  Surg.  Jour.,  1891, 
cxxiv.,  619:  cxxv.,  I.     Also  Reprint.     Also:  N.  Engl.  and  Yale  Rev., 
N.  Haven,  1891,  xix.,  111-132.     Also  Reprint. 

93.  "Can  the  Reports  of  the  Sick  and  the  Sanitary  Statements  of  the 
Different  Armies  be  Arranged  According  to  a  Scheme    Essentially 
Uniform  for  the  Purpose  of  Gaining  Statistics  of  Scientific  Worth  for 
Comparison  of  Diseases,  Wounds,  and  Deaths  in  Times  of  Peace  and 
War?"     Verhandl.  d.  X.  Internat.  med.  Cong.,  1890,  Berl.,  1891,  v., 
18.     Abth.  107-134.     Also  Reprint. 

94.  "American  Inventions  and  Discoveries  in  Medicine,  Surgery,    and 
Practical  Sanitation."     Boston  Med.  and  Surg.  Jour.,    1891,  cxxiv., 
349-351.     Also  Reprint. 

95.  "A  Field  Hospital  at  Gettysburg."     Youth's  Companion,  Phila  ,  July 
2,  1891,  373. 

96.  "Modern  Surgery."     Youth's  Companion,  Phila.,  Oct.  15,  1891,  547. 

97.  "  Public  Health  and  Municipal  Government. "     23  pp.  8°.     Suppl.  to 
Annals  Amer.  Acad.  Polit.  and  Soc.  Sc.,  Phila.,  1891. 

27 


418  John  SKa-w  Billings 

98.  "Social  Statistics  of  Cities. "     Washington,  D.  C.,  1891.     27  pp.  4°. 
United  States  Census  Office,     nth  Census.     Bulletin  No.  100. 

99.  "Mechanical  Methods  Used  in  Compiling  Data  of  the  nth  United 
States  Census;  with  an  Exhibition  of  a  Machine."    Proc.  Am.  Assoc. 
Adv.  Sc.,  1891,  Salem,  1892,  xl.,  407-409. 

100.  "The  Conditions  and  Prospects  of  the  Library  of  the  Surgeon-Gen- 
eral's Office  and  of  its  Index-Catalogue. "     Tr.   Assoc.   Am.  Physic., 
Phila.,  1891,  vi.,  251-257.     Also:    Boston  Med.  and  Surg.  Jour.,  1891, 
cxxv.,  344-346.     Also:  Med.  News,  Phila.,  1891,  lix.,  350-353. 

101.  "Vital  Statistics  of  the  Jews."     North  Am.  Rev.,  N.  Y.,  1891,  cliii., 
70-84. 

102.  "Addresses  Delivered  before  the   Mutual  Aid  Association  of  the 
Philadelphia  County  Medical  Society  for  the  Relief  of  the  Widows  and 
Orphans  of  Medical  Men,  December  14,  1892."    By  Drs.  BILLINGS, 
KEEN,  and  WILLARD,  and  GEORGE  D.  McCREARY,  Esq.     [Philadel- 
phia] 1892.     1 1  pp.     8°. 

103.  "The  Health  of  the  Survivors  of  the  War."     Forum,  N.  Y.,  1892, 
xii.,  642-658. 

104.  "The  Objects,  Plans,  and  Needs  of  the  Laboratory  of   Hygiene." 
An  address  delivered  at  the  opening  of  the  Laboratory  of  Hygiene  of 
the  University  of   Pennsylvania,  Feb.  22,  1892.     Med.  News,  Phila., 
1892,  lx.,  230-236.     Also  Reprint.     Also  [Abstr.]:  Boston  Med.  and 
Surg.  Jour.,  1892,  cxxvi.,  181-184. 

105.  "St.  Augustine:  Report  upon   her  Present   Sanitary   Condition." 
New  York:  Trow  Directory,  1892.     7  pp.     12°. 

The  same.     New  York:  J.  B.  Watkins,  1892.  7  pp.  8°. 

106.  "A  Syllabus  of  the  Lectures  on  Hygiene,  Vital  Statistics,  etc.,  at 
the  University  of  Pennsylvania. "    1891-2.     By  JOHN  SHAW  BILLINGS 
and  ALEXANDER  C.  ABBOTT.     Edited  by  SENECA  EGBERT.     Philadel- 
phia: Collins,  1892.     29  pp.    8°. 

107.  "The  Causes  of  Outbreaks  of  Typhoid  Fever."    Med.  News,  Phila., 
1892,  Ixi.,  601. 

108.  "Prevalence  of  Consumption  in  the  United  States."     Tr.  N.  York 
Acad.  Med.  (1892),  1893,  2.  s.,  ix.,  35~37- 

109.  "How  Tom  Kept  Bachelor's   Hall."     Youth's   Companion,  Phila., 
November  10,  1892,  598-599. 

no.     "In  a  Draft  Office."     Youth's   Companion,  Phila.,  November    17, 

1892,  610. 
in.     "A  Condensed  Statement  of  the  Requirements  of    the  Principal 

University  Medical  Schools  in  Europe  with  Regard  to  Candidates  for 

the  Degree  of  Doctor  of  Medicine."     Baltimore,  privately  printed, 

!893.     25  pp.,  printed  only  on  one  side.     8°. 

112.  "Hygiene."    In:  PEPPER,  W.     A  Text-Book  of  Theory  and  Practice 
of  Medicine.     Philadelphia,  1893-4,1.,  1-45. 

113.  "Photomicrographs  of  Normal  Histology,  Human  and  Compara- 
tive, Prepared  by  Direction  of  the  Surgeon-General. "    By  JOHN  SHAW 


Bibliog'rapHy  419 

BILLINGS  and  WILLIAM  M.  GRAY.    Washington,  Gov.  Prtg.  Off.,  1893. 
2  p.  I.,  76  phot.  fol. 

114.  "World's  Columbian  Exposition,  Chicago,  111.,  1892-3.     War  De- 
partment   Exhibit.       Medical    Department,    United    States   Army. 
No.  5.     Description  of  Microscopes  from  the  Army  Medical  Museum, 
Washington,  D.  C."     Chicago,  1893.     6  pp.     8°. 

Same.     Description  of  Selected  Specimens  from  the  Army  Medical 

Museum,  Washington,  D.  C.     Chicago,  1893.     14  pp.     8°. 

115.  "  Vital  Statistics  of  the  District  of  Columbia  and  Baltimore  Covering 
a  Period  of  Six  Years  Ending  May  31, 1890."     Washington,  Gov.  Prtg. 
Off.,  1893.   3  p.  1.,  241  pp.,  12  coloured  maps.   4°.    (United  States  52d 
Cong,  ist  Sess.  House  Misc.  Doc.,  340,  Part  8.) 

116.  "  The  Relation  of  Hospitals  to  Public  Health. "    Hasp.  Dispens.  and 
Nursing,  Internal.  Cong.  Char,  [etc.],  1893,  Bait.,  1894,  1-7.     Also  in: 
Lend  a  Hand,  Boston,  1893,  xi.,  168-175. 

117.  "  The  Population  of  .the  Earth. ' '    Chautauquan,  Meadville,  Pa. ,  1 892- 
3,  xvi.,  527-530. 

118.  "Effects  of  his  Occupation  upon  the  Physician."     Internal.  Jour. 
Ethics,  Phila.,  1893,  iv.,  40-48. 

119.  "Municipal  Sanitation  Defects  in  American  Cities."    Forum,  N.  Y., 

1893,  xv.,  304-310. 

120.  "  Medicine  as  a  Career. "    Forum,  N.  Y.,  1893,  xiv.,  725-734. 

121.  "Ventilation  and  Heating."    N.  Y.:  The    Engineer  Record,    1893. 
xvi,  17-500  pp.     8°. 

122.  "Municipal  Sanitation  in  Washington  and    Baltimore."     Forum, 
N.  Y.,  1893,  xv.,  727-737- 

123.  "  Municipal  Sanitation  in  New  York  and  Brooklyn. "     Forum,  N.  Y., 
1893-4,  xvi.,  346-354. 

124.  "Bibliography  (preliminary)  of  the  Literature  on  the  Physiological 
and  Pathological  Effects  of  Alcohol  and  Alcoholic  Drinks."    Edited 
for  The  Committee  of  Fifty   for  the   Investigation  of   the   Liquor 
Problem.     Washington,  D.  C.:  Judd  &  Detweiler,  1894.    28  pp.    8°. 

125.  "Hygiene  in  University  Education."    Address  given  to  the  Uni- 
versity Extension  Classes,  Oxford,  Engl.,  Aug.  7,  1894.     Boston  Med. 
and  Surg.  Jour.,  1894,  cxxxi.,  125-131.     Also  Reprint. 

126.  "  The  Bacteria  of  River  Waters. "    Presenting  a  paper  on  the  bacteria 
of  the  Schuylkill  River  by  Dr.  J.  H.  WRIGHT.     Mem.  Nat.  Acad.  Sc.t 

1894,  Wash.,  1895,  vii.,  417-421. 

127.  "The  Influence  of  Certain  Agents  in  Destroying  the  Vitality  of  the 
Typhoid  and  of  the  Colon  Bacillus."    By  JOHN  SHAW  BILLINGS  and 
ADELAIDE  WARD  PECKHAM.     In:  Smithson.  Inst.  Rep.,  1894,  Wash., 
1896,  451-458.    Also:  Science,  N.  Y.,  1895,  n.  s.,  i.,  169-174. 

128.  "  The  Influence  of  Light  upon  the  Bacillus  of  Typhoid  and  the  Colon 
Bacillus."     Mem.  Nat.  Acad.  Sc.,  1894,  Wash.,  1895,  vii.,  477-482. 

129.  "Methods  of  Teaching  Surgery."     Boston  Med.  and  Surg.  Jour., 
1894,  cxxx.,  535-538.     Also  Reprint. 


420  JoKn  SKa-w  Billings 

130.  "On  the  Influence  of  Insolation  upon  Culture  Media  and  of  Desicca- 
tion upon  the  Vitality  of  the  Bacillus  of  Typhoid,  of  the  Colon  Bacillus, 
and  of  the  Staphylococcus  Pyogenes  Aureus. "     Mem.  Nat.  A  cad.  Sc., 
1894.     Wash.,  1895,  vii.,  483-484. 

Same.     United  States  53d  Cong.,  3d  Sess.,  Sen.  Misc.  Doc.,  v.  3. 

131.  "Vital  Statistics  of  New  York  City  and  Brooklyn,  Covering  a  Period 
of  Six  Years  Ending  May  31, 1890. "    53d  Cong.,  ist  Sess.,  House  Misc. 
Doc.,  340,  pt.  13.     Washington,  1894,  *v»  529  PP-.  2  !•»  12  maps.     4°. 

132.  "Speech  at  Meeting  of  the  Harvard  Medical  Alumni  Association." 
June  26,  1894.     Boston  Med.  and  Surg.  Jour.,  1894,  cxxxi.,  140-142. 

133.  "Compulsory    Notification    of    Tuberculosis."      Phila.    Polyclinic, 
1894,  iii.,  73. 

134.  "A  Report  on  the  Etiology  and  Vital  Statistics  of  Diphtheria  and 
Croup."    Brit.  Med.  Jour.,  Lond.,  1894,  ii.,  578. 

135-  "Water  Supply  and  Sewage  Disposal  in  Some  Large  European 
Cities."  Engin.  and  Build.  Rec.,  N.  Y.,  1894,  xxx.,  395-397.  Also: 
Food,  N.  Y.,  1894-5,  v.,  187-196. 

136.  "The  Health  of  Boston  and  Philadelphia."     Forum,  N.  Y.,  1894, 
xvii.,  595-602. 

137.  "The  Composition  of  Expired  Air  and  its  Effects  upon  Animal  Life." 
[With  a  bibliography  of  51  titles.]     By  J.  S.  BILLINGS,  S.  WEIR  MIT- 
CHELL, and  D.  H.  BERGEY.    Washington,  1895.    81  p.     4°.    Smithson. 
Contrib.  Knowl.,  Wash.,  1895,  xxix.,  No.  989.     Also  [Abstr.]:     Smith- 
son.  Inst.  Rep.,  1895,  Wash.,  1896,  389-412. 

138.  "The  History  and  Literature  of  Surgery."     In:  Syst.  Surg.  (Dennis), 
Phila.,  1895,  i.,  17-144.     Also  Reprint. 

139.  "Municipal  Mortality  Statistics. "    Univ.  Med.  Mag.,  Phila.,  1894-5, 
vii.,  721-729.     Also  Reprint. 

140.  "Report  of  the  Committee  Appointed  by  the  Smithsonian  Institu- 
tion to  Award  the  Hopkins  Fund  Prizes."    August  9,  1895.    S.  P. 
LANGLEY,  G.  BROWN  GOODE,  J.  S.  BILLINGS,  and  MARK  W.  HARRING- 
TON.    Smithson.  Inst.  Rep.,  Wash.,  1895,  13. 

141.  "Report  on  the  Insane,  Feeble-Minded,  Deaf  and  Dumb,  and  the 
Blind  in  the  United  States  at  the  Eleventh  Census,  1890."    Washing- 
ton, Govt.  Prtg.  Off.,  1895.     xi,  i  1.,  755  pp.,  86  pi.     4°.     (United 
States  Census  Office.) 

Same.     (United  States  52d  Cong.,  ist  Sess.,  House  Misc.  Doc.,  r. 

50,  pt.  1 6.) 

142.  "Report  on  the  Social  Statistics  of  Cities  in  the  United  States  at  the 
Eleventh  Census:  1890."    52d  Cong.,  ist  Sess.,  House  Misc.  Doc.,  340, 
pt.  19.     Washington,  Govt.  Prtg.  Off.,  1895.     137  pp.,  I  chart,  33 
diagr.     4°. 

143.  "  Suggestions  to  Hospital  and  Asylum  Visitors. "    With  an  Introduc- 
tion by  S.  WEIR  MITCHELL.    By  JOHN  SHAW  BILLINGS  and  HENRY 
M.  HURD.     Philadelphia:  J.  B.  Lippincott  Co.,  1895.     48  pp.    16°. 

144.  "Vital  Statistics  of  Boston  and  Philadelphia  Covering  a  Period  of 


Bibliography  421 

Six  Years  Ending  May  31, 1890. "    Washington,  Govt.  Prtg.  Off.,  1895. 
vii,  229  pp.,  12  maps.     4°. 

145.  "Waste."    Address  on  Commencement  Day  of  Miami  University, 
Oxford,  Ohio,  June  20,  1895.     Oxford,  1895.     19  pp.     8°. 

146.  The  William  Pepper  Laboratory  of  Clinical  Medicine.     Address 
given  at  the  opening  of  the  Laboratory,  December  4,  1895.     [Philadel- 
phia, 1895.]     15  pp.     8°. 

147.  "A  Card  Catalogue  of  Scientific  Literature."    Science,  N.  Y.,  1895, 
n.  s.,  i.,  406-408. 

148.  [Review.]     "Degeneration."    By  MAX  NORDAU  [New  York,  1895]. 
Science,  N.  Y.,  1895,  n.  s.,  i.,  465-467. 

149.  [Review.]     "The  Climates  and  Baths  of  Great  Britain."     Vol.  i. 
[London,  1895.]     Science,  N.  Y.,  1895,  n.  s.,  ii.,  454~455- 

150.  "Report  on  Vital  and  Social  Statistics  in  the  United  States  at  the 
Eleventh  Census:  1890."    Part  1-4.     Washington,  Govt.  Prtg.  Off., 
1894-1896.     4°.     (United  States  Census  Office.) 

151. Same.     (United  States  52d  Cong.,  ist  Sess.,  House  Misc.  Docs., 

v.  50.,  pt.  18.) 

Part  i.     "Analysis  and  Rate  Tables."     1896,  xvii,  1059  pp. 

Part  2.     "  Vital  Statistics.    Cities  of  100,000  Population  and  Upward." 
1896,  ix,  1181  pp. 

Part  3.     "  Statistics  of  Deaths."     1894,  v,  1050  pp. 

Part  4.     "Statistics  of  Deaths."     1895,  v,  1033  pp. 
152.     "The  King's  Touch  for  Scrofula. "    Proc.  Charaka  Club,  N.  Y.,  1896, 

ii.,  57-71- 

J53-  "The  Influence  of  the  Smithsonian  Institution  upon  the  Develop- 
ment of  Libraries,  the  Organization  and  Work  of  Societies,  and  the 
Publication  of  Scientific  Literature  in  the  United  States. "  (In  Smith- 
sonian Institution,  1846-1896,  The  History  of  its  First  Half  Century. 
Washington,  1897,  pp.  815-822.  4°.) 

154.  "Some  Ideas   in    Hospital    Construction.     Report    Made    to    the 
Memphis  City  Council  upon  Plans  Proposed  for  the    New    City 
Hospital."    Memphis    Med.    Monthly,    1897,    xvii.,    193,    249,    309. 

155.  "  Progress  of  Medicine  in  the  Nineteenth  Century. "    Smithson.  Inst. 
Rep.,  1900,  Wash,  1901,  637-644.     Also  Reprint. 

156.  "The  Card  Catalogue  of  a  Great  Public  Library."    Library  Jour., 
N.  Y.,  1901,  xxvi.,  377. 

157.  "Address  Delivered  at  the  Dedication  of  the  New  Building  of  the 
Boston  Medical  Library,  January  12,  1901."    Boston  Med.  and  Surg. 
Jour.,  1901,  cxliv.,  61-63.     Also  Reprint. 

158.  "Biographical    Memoir   of   Francis   Amasa   Walker,    1840-1897." 
(Read  before  the  National  Academy  of  Sciences,  April   17,   1902.) 
National  Academy  of  Sciences.     Biographical  Memoirs.     Wash.,  1902, 
v.,  209-218. 

159.  " Some  Library  Problems  of  To-morrow."     President's  Address  to 
the  American  Library  Association,  June   17,   1902.     Library  Jour., 


422  JoKn  Shaw  Billing's 

N.  Y.,  1902,  xxvii.,  No.  7,  1-9.  Also  in:  Papers  and  Proceedings  of  the 
24th  General  Meeting  of  the  American  Library  Association,  1902,  1-9. 

160.  "The  Military  Medical  Officer  at  the  Opening  of  the  Twentieth 
Century."     Address  to  the  graduating  class  of  the  Army  Medical 
School  at  Washington,  April  14,  1903.     Jour.  Assoc.  Mil.  Surg.  U.  S.t 
Carlisle,  Pa.,  1903,  xii.,  349-358.     Also  Reprint. 

161.  "Relations  of  Drink  Habits  to    Insanity."     In:  Physiol.  Aspects 
Liquor  Problem,  Boston  and  N.  Y.,  1903,  i.,  339-355. 

162.  "  Data  Relating  to  the  Use  of  Alcoholic  Drinks  among  Brain  Workers 
in  the  United  States."    In:  Physiol.  Aspects  Liquor  Problem,  Boston 
and  N.  Y.,  1903,  i.,  3O7~338. 

Physiological  Aspects  of  the  Liquor   Problem:  Investigations   Made 

by  and  under  Direction  of  W.  O.  ATWATER,  J.  S.  BILLINGS,  H.  P. 
BOWDITCH,  R.  H.  CHITTENDEN,  and  W.  H.  WELCH.  Boston:  Hough- 
ton,  Mifflin  &  Co.,  1903.  2  vols.  8°. 

163.  "The  Public  Library:  Its  Uses  to  the  Municipality. "    Library  Jour., 
N.  Y.,  1903,  xxviii.,  293. 

164.  "A  Discussion  of  the  Vital  Statistics  of  the  Twelfth  Census." 
Washington,  Govt.  Prtg.  Off.,  1904.    24  pp.    4°.    United  States  Census 
Bureau,  Bulletin  15. 

165.  "The  Carnegie  Institution."    Jour.  Am.  Med.  Assoc.,  Chicago,  1904, 
xlii.,  1674. 

1 66.  The  Liquor  Problem.    A  Summary  of  Investigations  Conducted  by  the 
Committee  of  Fifty,  1893-1903.     Prepared  for  the  Committee  by  J.  S. 
BILLINGS,  C.  W.   ELIOT,  and  others.      Boston:   Houghton,  Mifflin 
&  Co.,  1905,  ix,  182  p.    12°. 

167.  "A  Summary  of  Investigations  Concerning  the  Physiological  As- 
pects of  the  Liquor  Problem."     (In:  The  Liquor  Problem.     A  Sum- 
mary of  Investigations  Conducted  by  the  Committee  of  Fifty,  1893-1903, 
1905.     pp.    15-42.) 

168.  "Medical  Reminiscences  of  the  Civil  War."    Tr.  Coll.  Phys.  Phila., 
1905,  3  s.,  xxvii.,  115-121. 

169.  "Address  Given  at  the  Opening  of  the  New  Library   Building  at 
Radcliffe  College,  Cambridge,  April  27,  1908."    Radcliffe  Mag.,  Cam- 
bridge, 1908,  x.,  107-111. 

170.  "Public  Library  Systems  of  Greater  New  York."     Library  Jour., 
N.  Y.,  1911,  xxxvi.,  489-492. 

171.  "The  New  York  Public  Library."     Century,  N.  Y.,  1911,  Ixxxi., 
839-852. 


INDEX 


Abbe,  Robert,  325 

Abbot,  Edward  Stanley,  132-133 

Abbot,  Edwin  H.,  133 

Abbot,  Henry  L.,  132-133,  156 

Abbott,  Alexander  C.,  209, 279,  341 

Abbott,  Robert  O.,  112,  150 

Abel,  John  J.,  211 

Abercrombie,  John  J.,  95 

Acland,  Miss  Sarah,  270,  294,  306, 

316;  reminiscences,  387-390 
Acland,  Sir  Henry  W.,    165,   166, 

231,  243,  253,  270-271,  272,  273- 

274,  280-281,  293,  294,  301,  387, 

392 

Acland,  Sir  Thomas  Dyke,  253 
Adams,  Samuel,  21,  104,  106 
Agassiz,  Louis,  216 
Alcoholism,  270,  317 
Aldie  Gap,  Va.,  49,  56,  57,  60 
Allbutt,  Sir  Thomas  Clifford,  294, 

315 

Allen,  Tom,  6-7,  134-135 

American  Library  Association,  304, 
3i8 

American  Medical  Association,  259- 
263 

American  Museum  of  Natural 
History,  351 

American  Public  Health  Associa- 
tion, 161,  172-176 

Anderson,  Edwin  H.,  297,  321, 
324,  329,  382 

Anderson,  Sir  R.  Rowand,  250 

Aquia   Creek,  Va.,  36,  48,  67,  88, 

94 

Army  Medical  Museum,  114,  261- 
262,  263-266,  339,  380,  381 

Army  Medical  School,  318;  address 
at,  371-372 

Army  of  the  Potomac,  20,  30-67, 

7i,  73-135 
Arnold,    Matthew,    167-168,    220, 

359,  383  . 
Asch,  Morns  J.,  90,  112 


Ashhurst,  Mr.,  231 

Astor,  John  Jacob,  288 

Astor,  William  B.,  288 

Astor  Library,  289,  291,  299,  307, 

315 

Atwater,  Wilbur  Olin,  268,  312 
Avery,  Samuel  P.,  314 
Ay  res,  Romeyn  B.,  104 

Babcock,  Orville  E.,  95 

Bach,  J.  SM  277 

Bacon,  Cyrus,  43,  63 

Bacon,  Dr.  Francis,  191 

Bacon,  Lord,  390 

Bailhache,  Preston  H.,  162 

Baird,  Spencer  F.,  345 

Baker,  Frank,  268 

Balfour,  Arthur,  348 

Balzac,  385 

Bancroft,  George,  143 

Banks'  Ford,  50 

Baretta,  M.,  264 

Barker,  Fordyce,  248,  249,  252 

Barker,  George  F.,  351 

Barker,  Lewellys  F.,  209,  211 

Barlow,  Francis  C.,  83,  107 

Barnard  Medal  Fund,  345 

Barnes,  Joseph  K.,  76,  86,  87,  92, 

93,  100,  112,  138,  140,  142,  181, 

213, 228 

Barnes  Hospital,  D.  C.,  160,  339 
Bates,  John  C.,  no 
Battey,  Robert,  256 
Battlesden  Abbey,  I 
Baudouin,  Marcel,  227 
Bayard,  Thomas  F.,  293 
Bayley,  William  A.,  28 
Beaconsfield,  Lord,  385 
Beale,  Edward  F.,  195 
Beale,  Lionel  S.,  143,  144 
Beck,  Marcus,  194 
Beck,  T.  Romeyn,  168 
Bedloe's  Island,  N.  Y.  H.,  70,  71, 

107 


423 


424 


Index 


Belle  Plain,  Va.,  82,  84,  89 
Benet,  Larry,  295 
Benson's  Mills,  Va.,  50,  60 

•  Bentham,  Jeremy,  175 
Bergey,  David  H.,  279 
Berkley,  Henry  J.,  275 
Berlin,  University  of,  216 
Bernard,  Claude,  142,  235 
Beverly   Ford,   Va.,   fight   at,    52, 

57 

Bibliotheque  Nationale,  Paris,  289, 
316 

Bigelow,  John,  290,  295,  303,  320- 
321 

Billing,  Ebenezer,  I,  404,  405 

Billing,  John,  402 

Billing,  Nicholas,  401 

Billing,  Richard,  I,  403 

Billing,  Sir  Thomas,  I,  398-399 

Billing,  William,  12,  40 

Billing,  William  (II),  403 

Billings,  Emma,  2,  59,  406,  407 

Billings,  Frank,  263 

Billings,  James,  2,  406,  407 

Billings,  Mrs.  James,  32,  59,  406, 
407 

Billings,  Jesse,  2,  405 

Billings,  Jessie  Ingram.  See  Hart- 
ley, Mrs.  Bradficld. 

Billings,  John  Sedgwick,  81,  304, 
329,  406 

Billings,  John  Shaw,  birth,  2 ; 
autobiographical  sketch,  2-4; 
preliminary  education,  4-8 ; 
Latin  salutatory,  5;  medical 
education,  8-18;  graduating  dis- 
sertation, 14-17;  appointed 
Assistant  Surgeon,  U.  S.  Army, 
19-20;  Civil  War  experiences, 
19-135;  marriage,  23;  letters  to 
Mrs.  Billings,  23-27,  29-30,  31- 
41,  42-45,  46-60,  64-66,  67-71, 
75-127,  228-232,  245-247,  253, 
263,  272,  274-275,  292-296,  300- 
301,  304-316;  surgical  work, 
16-22,  27,  40-42,  60-67,  86,  128, 
I3°»  336;  transferred  to  Surgeon 
General's  Office,  127,  135;  official 
life  in  Washington,  135-277; 
Oriental  studies,  138;  diary  of 
1866,  141-150;  report  on  Texas 
fever,  150-152;  studies  on  fungi, 
152-153;  inspects  and  reor- 
ganizes Marine  Hospital  Service, 
I53~i54;  reports  on  barracks, 
hospitals  and  U.  S.  Army  hygiene, 
154-161;  invents  heating  appara- 


tus, 155,  160;  devises  question- 
naire for  American  Public  Health 
Association,  161-162;  becomes 
Vice-President  National  Board 
of  Health,  162-166;  A  Century 
of  American  Medicine,  166-172; 
Presidential  address,  American 
Public  Health  Association,  172- 
176;  yellow-fever  epidemic  at 
Memphis,  176-177;  essay  on 
yellow  fever,  177-180;  work  on 
the  Johns  Hopkins  Hospital, 
181-212;  European  trip  (1876), 
191-197;  work  on  the  Surgeon- 
General's  Library  and  Catalogue, 
213-277;  International  Medical 
Congress  (London),  227-244, 
Address,  232-242;  honors,  247- 
248,  takes  Edinburgh  LL.D., 
248-250;  address  to  British  Medi- 
cal Association,  252-259;  con- 
tretemps of  International  Medical 
Congress  (Washington),  260-263; 
Army  Medical  Museum,  263-266; 
Philadelphia,  278-287;  testimon- 
ial banquet,  282-286;  portrait 
by  Cecilia  Beaux,  286-287;  work 
on  New  York  Public  Library, 
288-335;  fortitude  in  illness, 
324-328;  death  and  burial,  328- 
329;  descendants,  329;  memorial 
tributes,  329-335,  393-395; 
Scientific  work,  336-358;  Presi- 
dent Woodward's  reminiscences, 
348-356;  literary  work,  267-270; 
358-375;  character  and  person- 
ality, 376-395;  Miss  Acland's 
reminiscences,  387-390;  geneal- 
ogy, 396-4o7;  military  record, 
408-410;  bibliography,  411-422 

Billings,  Mrs.  John  Shaw,  marriage, 
23;  letters  to,  23-27,  29-30,  31- 
41,  42-45,  46-60,  64-66,  67-71, 
75-77,  80-127,  228-232,  245- 
247,  253,  263, 272, 274-275,  292- 
296,  300-301,  304-316;  prepares 
Billings's  genealogy,  396;  death, 
320;  character,  327-329 

Billings,  Kate  Sherman.  See  Wil- 
son, Mrs.  William  Hanna. 

Billings,  Margaret  Janeway,  229— 
230,  329,  406 

Billings,  Mary  Clare.  See  Ord, 
Mrs.  William  Wallis 

Billroth,  Theodor,  336 

Bismarck,  366,  387 

Black,  William,  272 


Index 


425 


Blackman,  George  C.,  9,   10,    12, 

13,  16,  18,  19 
Blake,  William,  150 
Bland,  Dr.,  101 
"Bloody  Angle, "  The,  84-87 
Blumenbach,  J.  F.,  338 
Boerhaave,  Hermann,  338 
Bonham,  John  C.,  4,  5 
Bowditch,  E.  W.,  204 
Bowditch,  Henry  I.,  162,  191 
Bradford,  Augustus  W.,  119 
Bradley,  Sergeant,  94 
Brady,  M.  B.,  108,  131 
Braidwood,  Peter  Murray,  229 
Brandy  Station,  Va.,  74-75 
di  Brazza,  Count,  310 
Breneman,  Edward  De  W.,  61,  94 
Brightly,  Charles  H.,  89 
Brinton,  Jeremiah  B.,  62,  76,  80,  82 
Brinton,  John  H.,  87,  140 
Bristoe  Station,  Va.,  53 
British  Library  Association,  309 
British  Medical  Association,  address 

before,  252-262 
British  Museum,  224,  225;  library 

of,  289,  316 
Brown,  F.  Tilden,  325 
Brown,  Harvey,  68 
Bruce  Library,  N.  Y.,  304 
Brunton,  Sir  Thomas  Lauder,  192, 

193,  293,  294,  315,  377-378 
Bryant,  Thomas,  272 
Bryant   Park   reservoir,   291,   296, 

297,  298 
Burdett,  Sir  Henry,  294,  326-327, 

393 
Burdon  Sanderson,  Sir  John,  184, 

194 

Burgers  [or  Surges],  Tristram,  2 
Burnett,  Swan  M.,  268 
Burnside,  Ambrose  E.,  73,  75,  76, 

78,  79,  80,  82,  94,  95,  97,  in, 

122,  123,  124 

Burton,  Henry  S.,  95,  123 
Busey,  Samuel  C.,  305 
Butler,  Benjamin  F.,  73 

Cabell,  James  L.,  162 

Cabot  and  Chandler,  200 

Cadwalader,  John  L.,  281,  290, 
296,  300,  304,  305,  306,  316,  320, 
321,  329,  330,  331-332,  354,  392t 

394 

Caldwell,  Daniel  G.,  149 
Callisen,  A.  C.  P.,  338 
Campbell,  Henry  Fraser,  256 
de  Candolle,  Alphonse,  258 


Cannon,  Joseph  G.,  313 
Carlyle,  Thomas,  39,  362 
Carnegie,  Andrew,    302-303,    306, 
3i6,  321,  330-331,  347-356,  385* 

393 

Carnegie  Institution  of  Washington, 
227,  263,  310,  311,  313,  316,  382, 

383,  384 
Carrere   and    Hastings,    297,    299, 

303,  308 

Carrere,  John  Merven,  298 
Cascapedia  Club,  300 
Catlett's  Station,  Va.,  49,  60 
Celsus,  1 6 

Census,  U.  S.,  251,  269,  308,  343 
Centreville,  Va.,  49,  53,  54,  60 
Century  (A)  of  American  Medicine, 

166-172 

Century  Club,  N.  Y.,  309 
Chadwick,  James  R.,  252,  284-285, 

294,  295,  386 
ChaiUS,  Stanford  £.,163 
Chancellorsville,  Va.,  77,  78;  Battle 

of,  30,  40-42,  58,  130 
Chandler,  Charles  F.,  163 
Chandler,  Francis  Ward,  317 
Charaka  Club,  N.  Y.,  317 
Charles  City  Court  House,  Va.,  109, 

no 

Chase,  Salmon  P.,  115 
Cheeseborough,  William,  I 
Chickahominy  River,  Va.,  107,  109, 

no 

Chiene,  John,  294 
Cholera,  bibliography  of,  166 
Choulant,  Ludwig,  337,  338 
Circular  No.  4,  155-158 
Circular  No.  8,  158-161 
City  Point,  Va.,  1 12,  113,  114,  117, 

118, 119,  125,  126, 127 
Civil  War,  1 8,  19-135,  320,  336 
Clark,  Sir  Andrew,  249,  272 
Clements,  Bennett  A.,  30 
Clendenin,  William,  12 
Clerk  Maxwell  Club,  349 
Cliffburne  Hospital,  D.  C.,  22-28, 

64,  107,  130 
Clifford,  W.  K.,  373 
Clinton,  William,  55 
Cohnheim,  Julius,  207 
Cold  Harbour,  assaults  at,  98-104 
Coler,  Bird  S.,  301 
Coleridge,  S.  T.,  148 
College  of  Physicians  of  Philadel- 
phia, 320, 370 
Collins,  Wilkie,  387 
Committee  of  Fifty,  317 


426 


Index 


Concilium  Bibliographicum  Zoologi- 

cum,  311 

de  Condillac,  1'abbe"  E.  B.,  239 
Congress  of   American   Physicians 

and  Surgeons,  264-265 
Conner,  Philetus  S.,  13 
Corfield,  William  H.,  194 
Cornarius,  Janus,  333 
Cossins  House,  Va.,  83,  88 
Coues,  Elliott,  145 
Councilman,  William  T.,  209,  210, 

211,  268 

Counting  machine,  343 
Craig,  Robert  O.,  34 
Craik,  Dinah  Muloch,  143,  229 
Crane,  Charles  P.,  143,  146,  149 
Craniography,  250-251,  252,  345 
Crowe,  Samuel  J.,  211 
Crowley,  Samuel  T.,  97,  106 
Cruger,  S.  V.  R.,  290 
Cullen,  Thomas  S.,  209 
Culpeper  Court  House,  Va.,  74,  75, 

76 

Cunningham,  Daniel  John,  264 
Curie,  Mme.  Marie,  310 
Curie,  Pierre,  310 
Curtis,  Edward,  46,  60,   71,    138, 

143,  145,  148,  150-152 
Curtis,  Edward  M.,  47,  58,  67,  69 
Curtis,  George  E.,  349 
Gushing,  Harvey,  211 
Cuyler,  John  M.,  89 

Da  Costa,  Jacob  M.,  282-283 

Dalton,  Edward  B.,  81,  87,  95 

David's  Island,  N.  Y.  H.f  70 

Davis,  George  S.,  227 

Dawson,  W.  W.,  18 

Day,  Miss,  310 

De  Camp  General  Hospital,  N.  Y. 

H.,  70 

Dent,  Frederick  T.,  75 
Deserted  House,  The,  90 
Dewey,  Melville,  224 
Dick  (Dr.  Billings's  horse),  33,  34, 

38,  40,  48,  50,  54,  55,  57,  65,  71 
Dieffenbach,  J.  F.,  336 
Dix,  John  Adams,  55,  71 
Dix,  John  Alden,  321 
Dohrn,  Anton,  311 
Dongan  Charter,  296 
Dore",  Gustave,  142,  147 
Dougherty,  Alexander  V.,  78,  86, 

122 

Draft  Riots,  67-68 
Drake,  Daniel,  8,  9,  10,  n,  161,  168 
Draper,  Henry,  333 


Draper,  Mrs.  Henry,  333,  342 

Drum,  Richard  C.,  227 

Dublin,  University  of,  Tercentenary 

of,  271 

Du  Bois,  Henry  A.,  95 
Du  Bois-Reymond,  Emil,  234 
Dunn,  William  McK.,  109 
Dyron,  Thomas,  94 

Early,  Jubal  A.,  98 
Edgerton,  Frank,  328 
Edinburgh,  University  of,  248-250 
Education,  Medical,  184-191,  198, 

256 

Edwards'  Ferry,  Va.,  49,  58,  60 
Eger,  Miss  Bertha,  311 
Einthoven,  Willem,  239 
Eliot,  Charles  W.,  212,  310,  325- 

326,  383 

Elliott,  Charles,  8 
Ellsworth,  Ephraim  E.,  67 
Emerson,  Charles  P.,  209,  211 
Emerson,   Ralph  Waldo,    n,   222, 

378,  383 

Epilepsy,  Thesis  on,  15,  16-17,  J42 
Erichsen,  John  Eric,  192,  193,  229 
von  Esmarch,  Baroness,  266 
von  Esmarch,  Friedrich,  266 
Ether  Day,  325 
Ewald,  Carl  Anton,  312 
Ewell,  Richard  S.,  77,  91,  116,  117, 

118 

Farley,  John,  Cardinal,  321 

Fair,  William,  226,  342 

Fayrer,  Sir  Joseph,  194 

Fergusson,  Sir  William,  10 

Fcrrier,  David,  194 

Fessenden,  William  Pitt,  115,  124 

Fichte,  Joh.  Gottlieb,  216 

Field,  Haviland,  311 

Fifth  Corps,  60-66,  76,  77,  78,  80 

Finley,  Clement  A.,  20 

Fletcher,  Robert,  133,218-219, 220- 
221,  222-223,  225-227,  266,  275, 
276,  277,  285-286,  325,  339,  354, 

381,387 

Flexner,  Abraham,  203,  342 
Flexner,  Simon,  209,  210,  211 
Flint,  Austin,  143,  228,  229,  252, 

253,  260 

Flint,  James  M.,  268 
Floyd-Jones,   De  Lancey,  35,   46, 

ISO 

Folsom,  Charles  F.,  163,  176,  309 
Folsom,  Norton,  183 
Ford's  Theatre,  214 


Index 


427 


Fort   Schuyler,   N.  Y.  H.,  68-70, 

123, 156 

Foster,  Sir  Michael,  197,  235 
Fox,  Delia,  293 

Frederick,  Md.,  49,  58,  59,  60,  65 
Fredericksburg,  Va.,  35,  40,  42,  51, 

52,  80,  82,  84,  86,  87,  89,  92,  93, 

95 

Fremont,  John  C.,  37 

von   Frerichs,    Friedrich   Theodor, 

235 
Froude,  James  Anthony,  377 

Gage,  Lyman  J.,  348 

Gal  ton,  Sir  Francis,  250 

Gamgee,  Arthur,  312 

Gamgee,  John,  150 

Gamp,  Sairey,  57 

Garfield,  James  A.,  229,^247 

Garrett,  John  W.,  201 

Garrick,  David,  386 

Gaskell,  Mrs.,  144 

Gaynor,  William  J.,  321 

Geikie,  Sir  Archibald,  272 

Geophysical  Laboratory,  355 

Geraghty,  John  T.,  211 

Gerhard,  William  W.,  168 

Germanna  Ford,  Va.,  77,  79 

Gesner,  B  rower,  143 

Gesner,  Conrad,  337 

Getty,  George  W.,  78 

Gettysburg,  Battle  of,  60-67,  I3°» 

132-133 
Ghiselin,  James  T.,  86,  90,  95,  103, 

105,  116,  118,  121 
Gibbon,  John, 88,  113 
Gibbs,  George,  145 
Gibson,  Joseph  R.,  in 
Gilchrist,  Thomas  C.,  211 
Gillespie,  George  L.,  1 1 1 
Gilman,  Daniel  C.,  203,  207,  347, 

348,  352 

Godman,  John  D.,  II,  168 
Goethe,  212,  360,  385 
Goldsmith,  Oliver,  386 
Graham,  James,  9,  10,  II,  12,  18 
Grant,  U.  S.,  73~74,  75.  77,  80,  87, 

91,  94,  95,  107,  109,  126,  145 
Graves,  Robert,  239 
Green,  Bernard  L.,  297 
Greenleaf,  Charles  R.,  147 
Greer,  Bishop,  321 
Gregg,  David  McM.,  77,  114 
Gregoor,  Servaas,  313 
Gross,  Samuel  D.,  167,  249,  388 
Guiney's  Station,  Va.,  93 
Guiteras,  John,  163 


Gull,  Sir  William,  229,  249 
Gum  Springs,  Va.,  49,  54,  55,  60 
Guthrie,  Edward  A.,  84 
Guy  (Dr.  Billings's  horse),  24,  25, 

57 
Gwin,  Charles  J.  M.,  203 

Haeser,  Heinrich,  337,  338,  357 

Hain,  Ludwig,  337,  338 

Hall,  J.  W.,  8 

Hall,  John,  228 

Halleck,  Henry  W.,  49 

von  Haller,  Albrecht,  216,  336,  337, 

33.8 

Hallier,  Ernst,  151 
Halsey,  Frederick  R.,  329 
Halsted,  William  S.,  209,  210,  271, 

324-325,  3.29,  332 
Hamilton,  Sir  William,  148 
Hammond,  William  A.,  22,  213,  263 
Hancock,  Winfield  S.,  80,  83,  84, 

85,  87,  88,  92,  95,  97,  107,  109, 

in 

Hannover,  Pa.,  60,  6 1,  66 
Hanover  Court  House,  Va.,  98 
Hardie,  T.  S.,  163 
Harrison,  Charles  G.,  281 
Hart,  Ernest,  192 
Hartley,  Mrs.  Bradfield,  329,  406 
Hartwood  Church,  Va.,  39 
Harvard  University,  317;  Medical 

School,  309 

Hasse,  Adelaide  R.,  411 
Hastings,  Thomas,  298 
Haw's  Shop,  Va.,  97,  98 
Hay,  John,  129-130,  347 
Hayes,  Isaac  L,  29,  139 
Hays,  I.  Minis,  260 
Heger,  Anthony,  149 
von  Helmholtz,  Hermann,  737-238, 

374 

Helsby,  Thomas  H.,  32,  49 
Hewitt,  Abram  S.,  348 
Hibberd,  James  F.,  18 
Hichborn,  Alexander,  38,  43,  44,  47 
Hill,  Ambrose  P.,  77 
Hippocrates,  16,  239,  359,  373 
His,  Wilhelm,  264 
History  of  Surgery,  274, 357 
Hitchcock,  Ethan  A.,  138,  146,  147, 

148 

Hollerith,  Herman,  343 
Holman,  Silas  A.,  79,  81,  85,  86, 

90,  100,  103 
Holmes,  Oliver  Wendell,  191,  216- 

218,  359,  377,  383 
Hood,  John  B.,  60 


428 


Index 


Hooker,  Joseph,  30,  31,  32,  33,  36, 
37,  38,  41,  45,  49,  50,  51,  52,  56, 

57,  58,  59,  76 
Hopkins,  Johns,  181,  182,  183,  186, 

190,  204 
Hospital     Construction,     155-157, 

181-212,  316-317 
Hospitals,  military,  155-157,  160 
Howard,  Benjamin,  64 
Howard,  Herbert  B.,  317 
Howland,  John,  2 
Hume,  David,  39 
Humphreys,  Andrew  A.,  95 
Hunt,  Ezra  M.,  191,  193,  387,  388 
Hunt,  Henry  J.,  95,  96,  103 
Hunter,  David,  109,  121 
Hunter,  John,  169,  336,  337,  357, 

358,  367,  373 

Hunterian  Museum,  264,  265 
Hurd,   Henry  M.,   201,    207,   211, 

270,  275,  332,  386,  387 
Huxley,  Thomas  Henry,  194,  373 
Hygiene,  Public,  340-342 
Hypodermic  syringe,  16-17,  20 

lie  a  Vache,  expedition  to,  71-73 
Index  Catalogue,  166,  218-225,  236- 
237,  272,  284, 311,  334,  336,  337- 

339 
Index  Medicus,  225-227,  284,  334, 

339,  354 

Index  of  Scientific  Literature,  291 

Ingalls,  Rufus,  92,  93,  94,  95 

Ingelow,  Jean,  192 

Ingram,  Alexander,  60;  letter  to, 
139-141 

International  Bibliographic  In- 
stitute (Brussels),  309 

International  Medical  Congresses, 
London  (1881),  223,  227-228, 
232-244;  Washington  (1887), 
260-262;  Berlin  (1890),  271 

Iroquois  Theatre  (Chicago),  fire  at, 

313 
Irving,  Sir  Henry,  272 

Jackson,  "Stonewall,"  45,  133 
Jacobi,    Dr.    Abraham,    219,    261, 

263,  393,  394 

James,  Henry,  212,  378,  395 
James  River,  Va.,  106, 109, 1 10, 1 1 1 , 

114,  US 

Jericho  Mill,  95,  96 
Johns  Hopkins  Hospital,  157,  181- 

212,  339,  383,  384,  392,  393 
Johns  Hopkins  University,  248 


Johnson,   Andrew,    142,    144,    147, 

149 

Johnson,  Edward,  85 
Johnson,  Samuel,  283 
Johnston,  Joseph  E.,  123 
Jones,  Captain,  86-87 
Jones,  John,  167 
Jones,  Joseph,  183 
Jones,  Thomas,  89 
Jonson,  Ben,  193,  377 
Judkins,  Jesse  P.,  12 
Juettner,  Otto,  10,  13 

Kaulbach,  Friedrich,  246-247 

Keen,  William  W.,  20,  320 

Kelly,  Howard  A.,  209,  210,  211 

Kelly's  Ford,  Va.,  40 

Kennedy,  John  S.,  290 

King,   Francis  T.,    181,    184,   203, 

204,  229,  230 
King,  William  A.,  308 
King's  Evil,  317 
Koch,  Robert,  152,  235,  280 
Kock,  Bernard,  72-73 
Koester,  Francis  J.,  410 
Kronecker,  Hugo,  311-312 

Laboratory  of  Hygiene  (Philadel- 
phia), 271,  279,  339 

Lafleur,  Henry  A.,  209,  211 

Lamb,  Daniel  Smith,  264 

Langley,  Samuel  Pierpont,  294,  374 

La  Roche,  R.,  242 

Laub,  Charles  H.,  143 

Lawson,  B.  S.,  12 

Lea,  Henry  C.,  278-279 

Ledyard,  Lewis  Cass,  290 

Lee,  Charles  C.,  87 

Lee,  Robert  E.,  30,  44,  47,  48,  49, 
50,  54,  55,  58,  59,  65,  74,  77,  94, 

104,  107,  112,  209 

Leesburg,  Va.,  49,  54,  58,  60 

Leidy,  Joseph,  29 

Leigh,  John,  167 

Lenox,  James,  288 

Lenox  Library,  289,  291,  299 

Letterman,  Jonathan,  22,  30,  107, 

127 

Letters  to  a  Young  Architect,  341 
Levi,  Eliphaz,  147,  148 
Lewis,  F.  W.,  29 
Leypoldt,  F.,  226 
Libraries,  medical,  15-16 
Library  of  Congress,  214,  304,  309, 

315 

Lidell,  John  A.,  139,  143 
von  Liebig,  Justus,  194 


Index 


429 


Lincoln,  Abraham,  32,   36,   72-73, 

118,  124,  143,214 
Lister,   Lord,    130,    157,    197,    199, 

.229,  358 
Little  Round  Top,  assault  on,  60, 

61       , 

Littr£,  Emile,  359 
Lockyer,  Norman,  193,  194,  272 
Long  Bridge,  Va.,  109 
Longmore,  Sir  Thomas,  243 
Longworth's    "Golden    Wedding" 

(Wine),  12 
Lovell,  Joseph,  213 
Low,  Seth,  320 
Lowe,  William  B.,  86 
Lowell,  James  Russell,  193,  248, 395 
Lydenberg,  H.  M.,  314,  328 

MacAlister,  J.  Y.  W.,  333-335 
McBurney,  Charles,  325 
McCaw,  Walter  D.,  277,  392,  393 
McClellan,  George  B.,  98 
McCool  salient,  assault  on,  84-87 
MacCormac,  Sir  William,  194,  227, 

243,  244,  293 
McCormick,  Charles,  112 
McCulloch,  Champe  C.,  Jr.,  277 
McDonald,  John  E.,  96 
McDougall,  Charles,  69 
McDougall  General  Hospital,  N.  Y. 

H.,  68-70 

McDowell,  Ephraim,  256 
McEwen,  Dr.,  229 
McFarland,  Hospital  steward,  86 
MacFarland,  R.  W.,  8 
McGill,  George  M.,  33,  57,  99,  100, 

101,  no,  in,  121,  126,  140,  149 
McGuigan,  Dr.,  97 
McGuire,  Hunter,  133 
MacKenzie,  Thomas  G.,  83,  112 
McLaren,  Adam  Neil,  20 
MacMahon,  Father,  314 
McMahon,  Martin  T.,  106 
McParlin,  Thomas  A.,  74,  83,  89, 

93,  105,  108,  122,  125,  126,  127, 

128 

Mahan,  Alfred  T.,  314 
Maitland,  Alexander,  290 
Mall,  Franklin  P.,  210 
Manassas  Junction,  Va.,  49,  53-54, 

60 

Mansfield,  Colonel,  88 
Marsh,  George  P.,  346 
Martin,  H.  Newell,  208 
Martin,  James  P.,  49 
Massachusetts    General    Hospital, 

325 


Massachusetts  Institute  of  Tech- 
nology, 317 

Massaponax  Church,  Va.,  93 
Massaponax  Court  House,  87 
Matthews,  Washington,  250,  252, 

345 

Mead,  Sergeant,  125 

Meade,  George  G.,  30,  36,  49,  58, 
59,  73,  74,  76,  79,  80,  81,  84,  86, 
87,  88,  90,  91,  95,  102,  104,  109, 

III,  121,  122 

Medical  College  of  Ohio,  8-18 

Medicine,  history  of,  202 

Medicine,  military,  245 

Meigs,  Montgomery  C.,  93 

Memphis,  Tenn.,  yellow  fever  at, 
176-177 

Mendenhall,  George,  12 

Merchant,  Charles  S.,  71 

Merrill,  James  Gushing,  277 

Miami  Medical  College,  9 

Miami  University,  4,  5-8 

Michler,  Nathaniel,  123-124 

Milhau,  John  J.,  62,  84,  85,  87,  88, 
97,  102,  104,  106,  122 

Milk-sickness,  168 

Mill,  John  Stuart,  373 

Mine  Run,  Va.,  74 

Minot,  Charles  S.,  268 

Mitchell,  Edward  Kearsley,  131- 
132,  330 

Mitchell,  John  K.,  151,  168 

Mitchell,  Langdpn  Elwyn,  272 

Mitchell,  S.  Weir,  n,  60,  131-132, 
268,  270,  272,  279,  282,  283,  300, 
301,  305-306,  308,  320,  325,  329, 
330,  336,  337,  348,  354,  359,  361, 
377,  382,  383,  390,  391,  392,  394 

Monocacy  Junction,  Md.,  59 

Moore,  W.  Withers,  252 

Morgan,  J.  Pierpont,  306,  313 

Morris,  Casper,  183 

Morton,  Samuel  G.,  168 

Mosby,  John  S.,  87 

Moultrie,  John,  249 

Mulqch,  Miss.     See  Craik 

Munich,  University  of,  284 

Munro,  A.  R.,  86 

Murray  Hill  Reservoir.  See  Bry- 
ant Park  Reservoir 

Napoleon,  216,  385 

National  Academy  of  Sciences,  316, 

345 

National  Board  of  Health,  162-166 
National  Medical  Dictionary,  268- 

269 


430 


Ind 


ex 


National  Museum,  U.  S.,  346 

Nelaton  probe,  84 

Nell    (Dr.    Billings's   orderly),   48, 

50,  51,  52,  53,  55,  58,  59,  60,  67, 

69 

Newhall,  Frederick  C.,  1 14 
Newton,  Mrs.,  97 
New  York  Academy  of  Sciences, 

350-351 
New    York    Public    Library,    281, 

288-335,  339,  381,  382,  393 
Nicolay,  John  G.,  129-130 
Niernsee,  John  R.,  197 
Nightingale,  Florence,  156,  199 
North  Anna,  battle  of  the,  94-95 
Norton,  Rupert,  21 1 
Notter,  J.  Lane,  293 
Nutrition  Laboratory,  354 
Ny  River,  Virginia,  89,  90,  91 

Ochiltree,  Thomas,  293 

O'Connell.     See  Sister  Anthony 

O'Leary,  Charles,  18 

Opie,  Eugene  L.,  210 

Ord,  William  M.,  229,  391 

Ord,  William  Wallis,  329 

Ord,    Mrs.    William    Wallis,    329, 

395,  4<>6 

O'Reilly,  Robert  Maitland,  308 
Osier,  Sir  William,  208,  209,  210, 

211,  263,  286,  287,  329,  337,  359, 

379,  393 
Otis,  George  A.,  138,  147,  213,  243 

Packard,  John  H.,  66 

Page,  Walter  H.,  273 

Pagel,  Julius,  394 

Paget,  Sir  James,  231-232,  241-242 

Pamunkey  River,  Va.,  97,  98,  99 

Parker,  Ely  S.,  91 

Pasteur,  Louis,  152,  157,  248 

Patrick,  Marsena  R.,  79,  87 

Peabody  Library  (Baltimore),  225 

Peach  Orchard,  The,  60 

Pearson,  Karl,  342,  343 

Pease,  Roger  R.,  84,  86,  117 

Peck,  John  J.,  55 

Peckham,  Adelaide  Ward,  279 

Pepper,  George  S.,  279 

Pepper,    William,    212,    278,    279, 

282,  383 
Perry,  Dr.,  149 
Peter  Bent  Brigham  Hospital,  317, 

320 

Petersburg,  siege  of,  110-127 
von   Pettenkofer,   Max,   201,   249, 

280, 342 


Phelps,  Alonzo  J.,  89,  90 

Phillips,  Wendell,  393 

Philosophical  Society,  348-349 

Phipps,  Henry,  211  " 

Piney  Branch  Church,  Va.,  81,  83 

Pirogoff,  N.  I.,  336 

Plato,  238 

Pleasanton,  Alfred,  57,  59 

Porter,   Hampden,    113,    114,   120, 

121,  122,  146 

Porter,  Horace,  145 
Potomac  Creek,  31-32 
Prince  of  Wales,  229 
Putnam,  Herbert,  304,  309,  312 

Quarantine,  163,  164,  165 

Radcliffe  College,  Cambridge,  318 
Ramsey,  William  R.,  31,  32,  34, 

35,  36,  37,  38,  40,  46,  47,  63,  64, 

65,  66,  68,  133,  147 
Rapidan  River,  Va.,  40,  77 
Rappahannock  River,  Va.,  39 
Rations,  159 
Rawlins,  John  A.,  95 
Ray,  Isaac,  168 
Reed,  Walter,  179,  210,  277 
Reeve,  John  C.,  18 
Reid,  Whitelaw,  316 
Renan,  Ernest,  360 
Revon,  Michel,  292 
von  Reyher,  Carl,  245 
Rice,  Charles,  223 
Richard    (Dr.    Billings's    orderly), 

33,  36,  38,  40 
Richet,  Charles,  227 
Ricketts,  James  B.,  117 
Riggs's  Bank,  214,  215 
Ring,  Dr.,  228 
Rives,  George  L.,  290,  321 
Robertson,  Dr.,  113 
Robinson's  Tavern,  Va.,  88 
Rockefeller,  John  D.,  212 
Rockwell  and  Churchill,  227 
Rodgers,  John,  328 
Rokitansky,  Carl,  142 
Root,  Elihu,  314,  329,  330,  348 
Rosecrans,  William  S.,  33 
Rosser,  Thomas  L.,  92 
Roth,  Wilhelm  August,  194 
Round  Table  Club,  300 
Roussin,  Z.,  123 
Rowntree,  Leonard  G.,  211 
Royal  College  of  Physicians,  163 
Royal  College  of  Surgeons,  264,  265 
Rush,  Benjamin,  167 
Ruskin,  John,  247,  258 


Index 


431 


St.  Mary's  Church,  fight  at,  114 

Sanitary  Commission,  U.  S.,  62,  66 

Satterlee  Hospital  (West  Philadel- 
phia), 28-30,  34,  66,  68,  107 

Sayre,  Louis  A.,  260 

Schafhirt,  Ernest  P.,  144 

Schenck,  Benjamin  R.,  21 

Schiff,  Dr.,  92 

Schiff  Fund,  300 

School  of  Mines,  lectures  at,  272, 
279 

Schriver,  Edmund,  82,  84,  102,  106 

Schuyler,  Philip,  303 

Schuylkill  River,  280 

Scott,  Winfield,  75,  148,  149 

Sedgwick,  John,  78,  80,  81,  82,  89 

Semmelweis,  Ignaz,  157 

Semmes,  Raphael,  73 

Seven  Days  before  Richmond,  27-28 

Shakespeare,  146,  360 

Sharp,  Dr.,  100 

Shaw,  Abby,  2 

Shaw,  Charles  3 

Shaw,  Edward,  222 

Shaw,  William  Henry,  3 

Sheridan,  Philip  H.,  74,  80,   109, 

"5 

Sherman,  William  T.,  123,  124,  125, 

227 

"Shorty,  "55 
Sickles,  Daniel  E.,  60 
Sigel,  Franz,  44,  116 
Simon,  Sir  John,  227,  229 
Sims,  j.  Marion,  167,  256 
Sinclair,  James  B.,  84 
Sister  Anthony,  12,  13-14,  140 
Slack,  Elijah,  9 
Slocum  disaster,  313 
Smart,  Charles,  86 
Smedberg,  Charles  G.,  48 
Smith,  Alan  P.,  201 
Smith,  Charles  Stewart,  304 
Smith,  Jesse,  9 
Smith,  Joseph  T.,  203 
Smith,  Nathan  R.,  64,  106 
Smith,  Stephen,  162,  183 
Smith,  William  F.,  98,  100,  124 
Smith,  Winford  H.,  211 
Smithsonian  Institution,^,  345-347 
Smyth,  Andrew  Woods,  264 
Solar  Observatory,  354 
Spanish-American  War,  301 
Specimen  Fasciculus,  166,  215,  216 
Spencer,  Herbert,  147 
Spencer,  T.  Rush,  100,  139 
Spenser,  Edmund,  146 
Spinoza,  138,  148,  363 


Spottswood  Hospital,  80 
Spottsylvania    Court    House,    Va., 

80-89;  fight  at,  82-83 
Stanton,  Edwin  M.,  36,  142 
Statistics,  vital,  343-344 
Stedman,  Edmund  Clarence,  309 
Sternberg,  George  M.,  163,  210 
Stevens,  Hester  L.,  23,  45,  76,  85 
Stevens,    Kate    M.     See    Billings, 

Mrs.  John  Shaw 
Stevens,  Robert,  1 19 
Stevenson,  Robert  Louis,  368 
Stoddard,  Richard  Henry,  309 
Stone,  Frederick  W.,  152 
Stover,  Martin  L.,  321 
Stuart,  J.  E.  B.,  80,  88 
Suckley,  George,  105 
Sugar  Loaf  Mountain,  Va.,  58 
Surgeon-General's    Office,    46,    74, 

126,  127,  136;  Library  of,  213- 

277, 3i6,  356 
Swammerdam,  Joh.,  147 
Swinburne,  134 
Sydenham,  Thomas,  239,  274 

Taft,  William  H.,  321,  394 

Tanaka,  Inaki,  301 

Tappahannock,  Va.,  93 

Taylor,  Dr.,  101 

Tenon,  J.  R.,  155 

Texas  fever,  report  on,  150-152 

Thackeray,  W.  M.,  377 

Thayer,  William  S.,  209,  210,  211 

Thierfelder,  J.  G.,  338 

Thiersch,  Carl,  194 

Thomas,  Henry  M.,  209 

Thorne,  Richard  Thorne,  272 

Thornton,  Charles,  1 8 

Tilden,  Samuel  J.,  289 

Tilden  Trust,  289,  291 

Timmins,  Samuel,  335 

Todd's  Tavern,   Va.,   78,    80,    81, 

134-135 

Torbert,  Alfred  T,  A.,  74,  95 
Totopotomoy  Creek,  Va.,  98,  99 
Townsend,  Miss  Lucille  R.,  307 
Traube,  Ludwig,  235 
Trevilian  Station,  fight  at,  114,  117 
Tripler,  Charles  S.,  21,  30 
Trousseau,  Armand,  239 
Turner,  Benjamin,  88 
Turner,  Thomas  J.,  162 
Tyler,  Robert  O.,  91,  118,  119,  r43 

Union  Hotel  Hospital,  20,  22,  131 
United  States  Ford,  Va.,  41,  42,  43, 
5° 


432 


Incl 


ex 


University  of  Pennsylvania,   278- 
282, 290 

Van  Wyck,  Robert  A.,  303 
Vaughan,  Henry,  375 
de  Vauvenargues,  Luc  de  C.,  210 
Velpeau,  A.  A.  L.  M.,  10 
Verneuil,  Aristide,  358 
Very,  Mrs.,  295 
Victoria,  Queen,  305 
Virchow,  Rudolf,  12,  138,  149,  150, 
169,  214,  249,  337 

Wagner,  Clinton,  35,  37 

Walcott,  Charles  D.,  329,  347,  348, 

382 

Walcott,  William  H.,  132-133 
Walker,  Francis  A.,  345 
Wallace,  Lewis,  118 
Waller,  Augustus  Desire",  239 
Ware,  William,  296,  297 
Waring,  George  E.,  176 
Warren,  Gouverneur  K.,  77,  81,  82, 

95,102,111,130 
Warrenton  Junction,  Va.,  76 
Washington,  D.  C.,  attack  on,  119- 

121 

Watertown,  N.  Y.,  70,  71 

Wawepex  Club,  313 

Weed,  Stephen  H.,  36 

Welch,  William  H.,  207,  209,  21 1, 

219,  263,  277,  329,  330,  332-333, 

339,  391 

Weljaminow,  N.  A.,  245-246 
Westminster  Abbey,  193 
West  Philadelphia,  107 
West  Point  Hospital,  160 
White,  Edward  D.,  347 
White  Church,  Pa.,  62,  64 
White  House,   Va.,   95,    100,    103, 

105,  106,  108,  109 


Whittingham,  Edward  T.,   48-49, 

61,63 
Wilderness,   battle  of    the,   78-80, 

128-130 

Willet's  Point,  156 
Williams,  J.  Whitridge,  209 
Williams,  Seth,  88,  95,  104 
Wilson,  Henry,  149 
Wilson,  James  H.,  114, 115 
Wilson,  John  M.,  95 
Wilson,  Sir  W.  J.  Erasmus,  13 
Wilson,  Mrs.  William  Hanna,  329, 

406 

von  Winckel,  Franz,  333,  338 
Windsor,  Thomas,  226,  294 
Winne,  Charles  K.,  80 
Winsor,  Justin,  335 
Wise,  Thomas  A.,  215 
Wistar  parties,  280 
Wood,  Horatio  C.,  386 
Wood,  Thomas,  13 
Woodhull,  Alfred  A.,  19,  131,  136, 

137,  138,  140,  142,  145,  ISO,  154, 

223,  264,  275,  384,  387,  394 
Woods  Hole,  Mass.,  307-308 
Woodville  Mine,  Va.,  78 
Woodward,    Joseph    Janvier,    138, 

142,  213 
Woodward,  Robert  S.,  329,  348- 

354, 355-356,  384 
Wright,  Carroll  D.,  347 
Wright,  Horatio  G.,  82,  97,  101 
Wright,  James   Homer,    210,    279, 

280 
Wright,  Marmaduke  Burr,  12,  17, 

18 

Yarrow,  Dr.  Henry  C.,  223,  268 
Yellow  fever,    163,    164,    176-180, 

242-243,  340 
Young,  Thomas,  337,  338 


University  of  California 

SOUTHERN  REGIONAL  LIBRARY  FACILITY 

405  Hilgard  Avenue,  Los  Angeles,  CA  90024-1388 

Return  this  material  to  the  library 

from  which  it  was  borrowed. 


"REC'D  ID-BRT 
APR  2  2 


UC  SOUTHERN  REGIONAL  LIBRARY  FACILITY 


A  000  652  780  8 


3  1210  00578  1073 


